


A Small Glitch

by Vegorott



Series: Raising Annalise [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Dark and Anti raising a kid?, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-17 07:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vegorott/pseuds/Vegorott
Summary: A child is left at Anti's and Dark's door and they quickly get attached to the little girl but the world doesn't seem to want them to keep her.





	1. Tied Up

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve seen posts on Tumblr about Anti and Dark having a child and it sparked an idea for a story.

Anti was sprawled out on the couch, scrolling through Tumblr on his phone and was annoyed as hell. Dark was, once again, in his room on the phone with one of the other Ipliers. Anti didn’t even care to figure out which one it was, what he cared about was the fact that this was his weekend with Dark and this was the fifth time they had called. Couldn’t they take care of themselves for three days? Not even three full days. Two and a half days. If they didn’t sleep in the same bed Anti would have never believed that they were together. He wasn’t even sure if the Ipliers and Septiceyes believed they were together, they were never with each other outside of their home and even then they were separate most times. They haven’t even had sex in a week and it was driving Anti crazy.  It was like there was literally nothing that could make them spend time with each other. 

The glitch suddenly sat up, ears twitching at the sound of something very unexpected. 

_ Screaming _ .

Anti never had a problem with screaming, he was actually fond of it in certain situations, but this was different. The screaming was filled with tears. It was pleading. It was young. Why was there that kind of screaming in front of their door? He quickly jumped to his feet, grabbed his knife and faced the door when he heard that the screen door was being messed with. Anti slowly walked over to the door, grip tighter on the knife as he grabbed the doorknob. Someone was going to get a surprise and it was going to be great. Anti threw open the door, hissing and showing off his sharp teeth as he looked ahead. He closed his mouth and raised a brow when he didn’t see anyone, but he did hear crying. Anti looked down and his eyes widened in shock. 

There was a little girl, no older than three by the looks of it, with tears running down her face. Anti opened the door slowly so the girl could step back and not get hit. He looked around and saw that the street was empty. 

“Mommy.” The little girl sobbed. Anti was a little shocked to see that the girl’s hand was tied to the screen door’s handle. 

“The fuck,” Anti said under his breath, using his knife to cut the rope. He took the girl’s hand and led her into the house. “Um...here.” Anti sat her at the kitchen table, setting his knife on the counter as he went to the fridge. “You like juice?” The girl just continued crying. “I got apple and orange.” Anti pulled out the jugs, showing them to the girl. She stopped loudly crying and sniffed.

“Apple.” She softly said. 

“Good choice. I don’t really like orange juice, but Dark loves this shit.” The way Anti said ‘loves’ made the girl giggle. Anti smiled, but shook his head and went to get a cup. He filled the glass with juice and sat it on the table. The girl slowly took the cup and sipped from it, some of the juice dripping past her mouth, but not as much as Anti feared when he saw the girl struggle. “Let’s get that rope off ya,” Anti said as he knelt down, gently taking the girl’s hand and beginning to undo the knot. 

“Annalise.” The girl said, pointing at herself. 

“Antisepticeye, but everyone just refers to me as Anti. It’s a lot less of a mouthful.” Anti finished the knot and tossed the rope aside.

“Why is there a child at our table?” Dark asked as he entered the room, his face loud in saying his disapproval.

“You gray.” Annalise giggled. “And you blue and red.” 

“Yes, I am. Now, Anti, why-”

“You pretty.” Dark paused after Annalise’s sudden compliment. 

“You are very pretty, Dark.” Anti chuckled. 

“Anti. Living room. Now.” Dark stated before walking off. 

“You chill here with the juice, I’ll be right back.”  Annalise nodded and took the cup again, not spilling any this time as she sipped. Anti found himself smiling again and left the room. 

“Why is there a child at our table?” Dark repeated, lowering his voice to a whisper. 

“She was tied to our door so I-”

“She was what?” Anti saw Dark’s aura grow a little. 

“She was tied to the screen door’s handle. I got the rope off of her, but it’s still on the door.” Anti explained. 

“I am a demon from another dimension. I have manipulated people into killing others or themselves but to do something cruel to a child…” Dark shook his head. “I’m not even that heartless.” 

“Okay, good. It’s not just me.” Anti chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “I was worried something was wrong with me when I felt bad for Annalise and feeling happy when she laughs.” 

“We’re demons, not monsters,” Dark smirked when Anti wrapped his hands around his waist, pressing their chest together. 

“You sure are something,” Anti said, only an inch away from Dark’s lips. They had just started their kiss when there was a loud ‘thud’.

“Oh no.” 

“We’re not keeping her,” Dark stated, his tone indicating that he knew what had happened. 

“Oh, no. Whatever shall I do.” Anti said with heavy sarcasm, stepping away and turning around as they headed back to the kitchen. 

“I’ll be sure that she-” Dark stopped himself when the men saw what Annalise was doing. She was kneeling on the ground with some paper towels, cleaning up the spilled apple juice, but what really made him stop was the fact that she was crying.  

“I sorry. I sorry.” Annalise sobbed. Anti made a whimper that made Dark look at him in confusion, he watched as his partner went to Annalise and picked her up. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, don’t cry.” Anti soothed, rocking Annalise in his arms as he walked away from the mess. 

“That’s concerning,” Dark said to himself as he finished up the cleaning. He was washing his hands when he saw Anti glitched on top of the counter, grabbing something off of the top of the fridge and glitched away. Dark dried his hands off and grabbed a pen and notepad, scribbling down a few things, before going to the living room. He rolled his eyes and sighed when he saw that Anti was sitting on the ground while Annalise was on the couch, both of them with chocolate around their lips. “Really?”

“Chocolate makes everyone feel better.” Anti chuckled, licking away the chocolate that was on his face. 

“Should you be giving the child sugar? We need her to be calm.” Dark huffed as he sat on the couch. 

“She ain’t gonna die because of a few pieces of candy. Don’t be such a grouch.” Anti held one of the chocolates towards Dark. “She’s been through a lot, she deserves a treat.” 

“I like it better when you’re cruel to people.” Dark sighed, taking the offered candy. “Now, I wrote down what you’ve said to me so far, we’re going to need to call the police and-” Dark was not ready for Annalise to jump off of the couch and go under the coffee table. “Annalise, we need to ask you some questions.” Annalise curled up into a tight ball when he said that. “I don’t like this,” Dark growled as Anti crawled over to the coffee table. 

“She’s a child.” Anti huffed.

“Not this. I don’t like that there’s a reason why her reaction to hearing ‘police’ is to hide.” Dark stated. 

“Hey, you can come out. There’s no need to hide.” Anti smile at Annalise, careful to not show his teeth. 

“No police?” Annalise asked.

“No police.” Anti grabbed Annalise under her shoulders and pulled her out, sitting her on his lap. 

“How old are you?” Dark asked. Annalise looked at Anti and when the glitch nodded she held up three fingers. 

“I was right.” Anti chuckled as Dark wrote down the number. 

“Do you know your last name?” Dark raised a brow when Annalise started to move her hand in the air. He went over to the two, flipping to a new page in the notepad and handed it to Annalise. He sat down on the ground as well and watched as Annalise wrote.

“This,” Annalise said when she was done writing. Dark took the pad back and wrote the name under Annalise’s, showing it to her when he was done. 

“This?” Annalise nodded her answer. 

“Annalise Barbetti,” Dark stated, flipping back to the first page and writing again. “Can you tell us why you’re here?” 

“Mommy angry,” Annalise said and started gesturing with her hands. “Quiet angry. Take string and…” Annalise mimicked her wrist getting tied. “No goodbye.” Annalise had begun to cry. “I did bad! I want mommy!” 

“We’ll get you to your mommy, don’t cry. Don’t cry.” Anti turned Annalise around and started making silly faces. 

“I’m going to make a phone call. I shouldn’t be long.” Dark stood. 

“You say that every time,” Anti muttered as Dark left. 

It took everything in Dark not to go back to Anti and say something, anything to make him feel better, but he had other things to take care of. Dark went into his office, shutting the door behind him and he cleared his throat before dialing his phone. 

“This is Isaac Powell, I am calling to report an abandoned child,” Dark stated into the phone, placing the notepad on the desk and leaning a hand against the wooden surface. “Her name is Annalise Barbetti, she is three years old and her mother tied her to our door and left her.” Dark chewed his lip as he listened, he gave the officer his address and nodded his head before verbally saying ‘yes’ when he was told that they were sending someone to his home. “Thank you.” Dark hung up without waiting for a response. So much for a peaceful weekend, he thought he only had to deal with ignoring the other Ipliers after that last phone call but it seems like he has more on his plate to take care of first. “Anti, someone will be here in five minutes.”

“What was my name again?” Anti called back. 

“Triston Frost,” Dark answered before closing his eyes. He tensed up his entire body before releasing it, feeling a warmth travel through his skin. Dark gasped a little as something was sucked into him. He blindly walked over to the full-length mirror he had hanging off the wall and he opened his eyes. Dark put a hand on his face, seeing color to his skin was strange since he knew it wasn’t his own. Poor Isaac, his passing was sudden, but thankfully no one checks a coffin once it’s closed. Dark wasn’t one for sentimental value on things, but he found it respectful to use the name of the man who’s pigment he borrows when needed. Never ‘befriend’ a demon, you never know what will be done with your corpse if you do. Dark chuckled to himself a little at that thought as he ruffled his hair, the color going from black to brown and after several blinks, his black eyes became brown as well. His aura was currently buried deep inside of him, he could keep it away for hours, but after so long, he had to let it free or something terrible would happen, Dark didn’t know exactly what it was and he never wanted to know. 

“Dark, they’re here,” Anti said from behind the door. “You ready?” 

“Coming.” Dark strolled over to the door, opening it and seeing both Anti and Annalise waiting for him.  

“I hate it when you look like that,” Anti stated before walking into the room, closing the door as well. Annalise stared at Dark with wide eyes. 

“It’s still me. Just had to give myself some color to not scare the others.” Dark stated, getting a head nod from the little girl. He faced the front door when there was a knock. Dark adjusted his tie, cleared his throat and opened the door. “Hello, officer.” He greeted, not shocked to hear that Annalise had run away. 

“I’m Officer Jacob and I’m here for the girl.” The officer stated. 

“Isaac Powell, please come in, she’s currently hiding.” Dark opened the door further and stepped aside to allow the policeman to pass him. “Her name is Annalise.” He added as Officer Jacob entered the living room. 

“Come here, Annalise. I’m going to make sure that you’re okay.” Jacob crouched down next to the coffee table where Annalise was hiding again. Dark glanced over at his office door, Anti never takes this long to change, he had a lot less to do than him. What was taking him?

“No! No!” Annalise cried when Jacob tried to grab her. 

“She clearly has a past that involves the police which leads to her mistrust of them,” Dark stated. 

“I would have never guessed.” Jacob scoffed. “Come on, girl. I gotta take you back to the station.” 

“If you’re unable to get her, my partner does very well with Annalise and can help you.” Dark offered. 

“I’m sure your wife is great with kids.” Jacob straightened up. 

“ _ He _ will be out in a moment,” Dark smirked a little when he saw the officer get a little uncomfortable. If this was any other situation, Dark would have used that to his advantage. “Speaking of my  _ boyfriend _ .” He added when his door opened. “Hello, Triston,  _ dear _ .” Anti could tell with how Dark was using that word that the officer in his living room was not the biggest fan of them. 

“Hi, sweetie.” Anti placed a hand on Dark’s arm. “Is everything going okay out here?” 

“Officer Jacob is having some trouble getting Annalise out, care to help?”

“Of course, honey.” Anti pecked Dark on the cheek and walked over to the coffee table, making sure that his hips popped out a little more with each step. Anti slowly lowered to his knees and winked at the now very uncomfortable officer before leaning over and looking at Annalise. 

“Ant?” Annalise sniffed. Anti made a silly face to let Annalise know that it was him and she allowed him to pull her out with not protest. 

“Here you go.” Anti handed Annalise to Jacob, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach when Annalise started screaming. 

“Come down to the station and place your statements and then you’re all good to go.” Officer Jacob struggled to hold Annalise. “What’s around her mouth?” He asked.

“Chocolate. Triston wanted to make her feel better.” Dark answered. Jacob nodded and carried the still screaming Annalise out of the house. “Anti?” Dark saw that Anti was still kneeling on the ground. Anti’s eyes were wide and he swallowed before shaking his head. 

“Let’s go.” 


	2. She Needs Us

Anti sat at Dark’s desk, a laptop opened in the center and pieces of paper covering the rest. He was scribbling something down as he listened to the audio playing. 

“The child is to go to the next of kin.” A deep voice said before there was a pounding sound. 

“Next of kin, next of kin,” Anti muttered as he shifted through his pages. 

“Mommy!” Anti froze when he heard Annalise crying. He didn’t have to see to know that she was being dragged away again. That poor girl. 

“Anti?” Dark said as he peered through the cracked door, seeing his partner staring longingly at the laptop. “Anti?” He repeated when Anti began typing away, fingers gliding across the keys with ease. Dark stepped into his office, setting a plate of pasta on the desk. “You haven’t eaten today.” He was ignored as Anti continued typing. Dark signed before stabbing a couple of noodles on to a fork. He held the fork in front of Anti’s face and the glitch ate from it without a second thought. It wasn’t until a couple chews did he realize what just happened. 

“Oh, hey Dark.” Anti greeted, mouth still full. 

“Swallow first.” Dark sighed, resting one of his hands on the desk and the other on the back of the chair, leaning to see what Anti was doing. 

“You love it when I swallow, don’t you?” Anti teased after doing so. 

“I’ll be sure to remind you of that later,” Dark whispered, grinning when Anti shivered a little. “Now, what is my little virus up to?” Anti rolled his eyes at the nickname, it was the only one Dark used and it wasn’t that creative. 

“This is Judy Hopkins…”

“It worked!” Anti clapped his hands when he heard a voice speaking. “Of course, it worked, I’m a hacking genius.” He added with a smirk to Dark. 

“Why-”

“Shush.” Anti put a hand on Dark’s face, knowing that glare he was getting would lead to something later as well. 

“So, my good-for-nothing daughter finally gave up on that brat? Took her ass long enough.” The woman who Anti knew was Annalise’s grandmother, Elizabeth Barbetti, scoffed. “And, no. I’m not taking her in. I’ve dealt with enough unappreciative asses in my life.” Dark could see how tense Anti was getting as the woman spoke. He took the hand that was still on him and held it, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb on the top of it. 

“Do you know of any other-”

“Nope. No one wants her. Just shove her into an orphanage or something. Goodbye.”

“But Ma’am…” Judy stopped when the dial tone went off. “What a bitch.” 

“Fucking whore,” Anto growled.

“Why are you looking into Annalise?” Dark asked when he started reading the papers on his desk. 

“I don’t know. I just want to make sure that she’s going to be okay.” Anti admitted. 

“The police-”

“The police are a bunch of dumb-fucks that don’t care about a little girl!” Anti snapped. 

“Do you honestly mean that?” Dark started to collect the papers. 

“No...I…” Anti rubbed his face. “I don’t know why, but I have this desire to take care of Annalise, something is clawing at me and begging me to make sure everything is fine, that she’s happy and healthy.” 

“You’re allowing your emotions to become unstable. Perhaps it’s time for a recharge? You haven’t done so in a while.” Dark stated. 

“I did it last night,” Anti said, making Dark pause for a moment before he continued. 

“Maybe you need more time.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with emotions, Dark. I have them, you have them, no matter what you keep telling yourself and other, you do have emotions. You wouldn’t be with me if you didn’t. You wouldn’t make sure that I’ve eaten or charged if you didn’t care for me. Worry is an emotion. And you have a shit ton more than just that.” 

“I hate it when you lecture me.” Dark sighed, finishing up his organizing. 

“Now you know how I feel when you do it.” Anti’s ear twitched when he heard Annalise’s name being spoken. 

“There are no available foster homes? How is that possible!?” Judy snapped.

“I’ve been calling and calling, Judy. But so far no one’s been wanting to take in a three-year-old girl at the moment.” A male voice stated.

“What are you doing?” Dark asked when Anti started to type in a number on his phone. Anti answered Dark with a raised finger and there was a ringing sound coming from the laptop. 

“Yes, this is Triston Frost. A friend of mine was telling me about your problem with a little girl named Annalise. We’re willing to take her in.” Anti said into the phone. 

“I’m sorry sir but…” Anti held the phone towards Dark while the man responded. He waved his hands and pouted his lip while he and Dark had a silent argument. Dark caved in and took the phone. 

“Hello, this is Isaac Powell,” Dark said into the phone and walked out of the room, it being a habit for him to be alone during a formal call. Anti swung his legs while he waited for Dark to return. He was tempted to hack into the man’s phone as well to listen in, but he was a fan of surprises. 

“How’d it go?” Anti asked with a sweet smile when Dark came back in. 

“We will be able to be temporary foster parents until a fitting home is found,” Dark stated, putting the phone down. “We are not adopting her.” He added. 

“Why not?” Anti protested. “She needs us.”

“I am a demon and you’re a virus, we can not raise a child.” Dark put his hand on the laptop and shut it. 

“But-”

“You can play with her for a few weeks, get this want of a child out of you so we can move on.” Dark placed the papers on the laptop. “We do not have time for that. We rarely see each other as it is.” 

“And whose fault is that!?” Anti snapped, standing. “You’re the one who’s always out, having his fucking meetings every fucking day and I’m home alone most of the time.” Anti took his laptop and paper and stormed towards the door. “If I didn’t suck your dick every night, I wouldn’t know that we were a couple!” He added before slamming the door. Dark sighed before leaving his office as well.

“Anti-”

“Do you not love me anymore!?” Anti cried, throwing his belongings down onto the couch. “Or did you ever love me in the first place!? Am I just a body for you to fuck!? I-” Anti stopped when Dark wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. 

“You know that answer to all of those questions,” Dark stated. “It kills me everytime I’m away from home for so long. I try to leave, but I have to wait till the others are done and none of them have someone to go home to. The number of times I just wanted to vanish and be with you is too many to count. I do care about you, Anti. I have for a long time. I just don’t want you to make any life-changing decisions because of something I’m trying my best to change and now I have a mountain of paperwork to forge, create and get signed because of you.” 

“I hate it when you get all soft on me,” Anti said with a smile. 

“Now you know how I feel when you do it to me.” Dark chuckled.  

“Softie.” Anti sang. 

“Don’t push it,” Dark warned. 

“Big ol’ softy.” Anti hopped away, a large smile on his face. 

“You’re pushing it,” Dark smirked. 

“You’re a squishy little love-bug.” Anti started laughing when he took off and Dark went after him. He jumped on top of the couch and started bouncing, laughing, even more, when Dark grabbed his legs and threw him over his shoulder. 

“This ‘squishy little love-bug’ is going to have to teach you a lesson.” Dark chuckled. 

“Oh no, whatever shall I do.” Anti dramatically said before leaning down and patting at Dark’s rear. 

“Hey, now.” Dark swung Anti forward, catching him in his arms and feeling the virus’ legs wrap around his waist. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Being a bad boy,” Anti answered, resting his elbows on Dark’s shoulders. 

“Do you know what happens to bad boys?” Dark continued walking as they spoke. 

“I look forward to it.” Anti grabbed Dark’s face and kissed him. Dark carried Anti into their bedroom, laughing after dropping him on their bed and jumping on him. The paperwork could wait.


	3. Welcome To The Family

“Guns?”

“In the hidden cupboard.”

“Unnecessary knives?” 

“Sadly, in the cupboard as well.” 

“Sadly?” Dark looked up from his list at Anti. 

“I like my knives.” Anti shrugged. 

“Why is your hair green?” Dark asked.

“I thought that Triston might wanna try something new.” Anti ran a hand through his hair.

“Triston can try something new when he’s not trying to convince people to let him keep a child he doesn’t need.” 

“Well, Isaac doesn’t have to be a bitch about it.” Anti huffed as he changed his hair back to brown. “Better?” 

“Much.” Dark pecked Anti on the cheek.

“You’re being a softie again.” Anti chuckled.  

“I’m only allowing a child to be brought into our home because you want her, I get it, I’m nice to you. Don’t let the others know.” Dark lightly tapped his pen against the tip of Anti’s nose. 

“I think they’d get a kick out of Softiplier.” Anti took the pen and skipped away. 

“Repeat that to anyone and I will send Annalise back.” Dark threatened. 

“Rude.” Anti stuck his tongue out, slipping it back into his mouth when their doorbell went off. He quickly dropped the pen and ran over to the door. 

“Let me get it, go make some drinks,” Dark said, moving Anti aside, handing him the clipboard and opening the door. 

“Are you Mr. Powell?” A young woman asked. Annalise was standing in front of her and looking very uncomfortable. The little girl looked up and after a few blinks, she recognized Dark. 

“Yes, please come in. There are some refreshments being prepared for us.” Dark bowed a little as the woman and Annalise entered his home. 

“You have a very lovely home.” The woman commented. 

“Thank you.” Dark peeked towards the kitchen and saw that Anti was pouring lemonade into three glasses and the jug of apple juice told him what was in the fourth cup. 

“I hope you understand that I need to do a quick look-over.” The woman stated, showing Dark that she was holding a clipboard. 

“I would not expect otherwise.” Dark as he watched the woman begin looking at his living room. “My name is Viana, I just realized I never told you.” She giggled a little. 

“You’re busy with your work, it’s understandable.” Dark was in his area. Professional, making one believe he was something he was not. This was the easiest and most enjoyable thing for him to do. “You can sit on the couch, if you wish, Annalise.” Annalise nodded her head and crawled onto the soft couch, bouncing a little as she waited. 

“I hope you like lemonade,” Anti said as he entered the room, carrying a silver tray in his hand. “And I got some apple juice for the lady of the hour.” He added with a chuckle as he handed Annalise a plastic cup.

“Ant!” Annalise giggled, taking the cup. 

“Thank you, how is it working for Mr. Powell?” Viana asked, taking the offered glass. 

“I don’t work for him. I’m in a relationship with him.” Anti said, is using a smile that Dark knew as his ‘if I didn’t have to behave, you’d be dead’ smile. 

“My apologies, I shouldn’t have assumed,” Viana said. 

“No need to worry, we’re used to it,” Dark said with a chuckle, taking a glass for himself and whispering into Anti’s ear. “You’re doing great, go play with Annalise and I’ll take care of this.” Anti nodded and went over to the couch, setting the tray on the coffee table before sitting with Annalise. 

“How are you?” Anti asked. 

“Sleepy,” Annalise answered, holding the cup towards Anti. 

“I bet.” Anti took the cup, setting it on the end-table. 

“Lot of people,” Annalise said. “Big people.” She added in a whisper. 

“Bigger than me?” Annalise nodded her answer. “Well, they might be bigger, but do you want to know what I have that they don’t?” Annalise nodded again. Anti checked to make sure that the woman and Dark weren’t looking at him. He closed his hand and when he opened them, a pixelated butterfly was resting in his palm. “Magic.” Annalise gasped with surprise. She went to her knees and gently touched the wing, giggling when several pixels came off of it, the colors changing as they slowly faded away. Anti felt a small warmth in his chest as Annalise continued giggling with joy. What was making him so attached to this little girl? 

“Butterfly.” Annalise scooped the butterfly into her hands, the holographic insect kept its form got a moment before shattering into a pile of pixels. She opened her fingers and watched with wide eyes as the pixels flowed between them, landing on Anti’s hands and fading away. 

“We have covers on all of the outlets and the cleaning supplies are all kept on the top shelf of a locked closet,” Dark said to Viana as they left the library. 

“I can tell you’re taking this very seriously,” Viana stated, marking a few things off. 

“Taking care of a child is a very serious task to undertake,” Dark said and Anti could tell that he was having way too much fun manipulating Viana. He was going to have to tease him about that later. 

“Ladybug?” Annalise asked, patting Anti’s hands. 

“Let me see…” Anti hummed and closed his hands, he scrunched his face, making Annalise laugh a little before he opened his hands back up, an oversized ladybug projection was now sitting on his palms. 

“Ladybug!” Annalise squealed with joy. Viana and Dark both looked towards them. Anti quickly reclosed his hands. 

“It must have flown in when you came in.” Anti chuckled and stood up. “I’ll be right back, Annalise. I have to make sure this little guy gets to his home.” He headed for the front door. 

“Let me help you,” Dark said and walked over with Anti, opening the door for him. 

“You couldn’t wait to do that till Viana left?” Dark asked through gritted teeth. 

“You told me to play with her,” Anti said back, pretending to release a bug that no longer existed.

“Patty-cake or itsy-bitsy spider or something that doesn’t involve you using abilities that humans don’t have.” Dark saw that Viana was speaking to Annalise. “I am very close to closing the deal, just-” Dark stopped when his phone began to ring, the song telling him that it was Wilford. “Talk to him for me.” He said before handing Anti the phone and going back over to Viana. 

“Hey, bubblegum.” Anti sang when he answered the call, stepping into Dark’s office and closing the door behind him.

“Hello there, glitch, is Dark unavailable?” Wilford asked through the phone. 

“He’s currently-ah!” Anti gasped when he hit his toe on the desk. “He’s currently doing me a favor.” He groaned, sitting on the ground and holding his now sore toe. 

“Oh...did I call at a bad time?” The teasing tone of Wilford’s voice almost made Anti laugh. 

“Yes, yes you…” Anti let out a fake moan and he ended up laying on the ground since he had to bite his lip to hold back a snort. 

“Should I leave you two at it then?”

“Please.” Anti wheezed. 

“Have fun you two heathens.” Wilford chuckled before hanging up. Anti rolled to his back and took in several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down when the phone buzzed. He saw that Dark had a text message and he could no longer hold back his laughter when he read Wilford’s text.

_ ‘Don’t choke ;)’ _

“Triston is currently on the phone with a dear friend of mine and they get along very well.” Anti heard Dark say on the other side of the door. 

“I see, well, it’s been a pleasure talking with Mr. Powell. I’ll be back in a month to see how everything is going.” Anti scrambled to his feet and opened the office door. “I’ll be seeing you. Goodbye Mr. Frost.” Viana called when she saw Anti’s head peeking out of the doorway. 

“Goodbye.” Anti flashed a smile. 

“I look forward to your next visit.” Dark shook Viana’s hand and got the door for her, his smile dropping and form returning to normal when he shut the door. “What did Wilford say?” 

“Have a read.” Anti handed Dark his phone as his body went back as well. 

“Don’t choke...what did you tell him we were doing?” Dark sighed, pressing a button to call Wilford back. 

“I slammed my toe when I went into your office and Wilford thought that sound was something else and I went with it.” Anti chuckled. 

“You dirty dog.” Wilford’s voice was deep in a teasing tone. 

“Why did you call?” Dark asked, going into his office. 

“Well, looks like it’s just me and you for a while,” Anti said as he walked over to Annalise, who was still sitting on the couch. 

“Ladybug?” Annalise tilted her head. Anti put his hand behind his back and when he brought it back out, the ladybug image from before reappeared. “Ladybug!” Annalise jumped up and down towards Anti, putting her hands on Anti’s so he would lower it, letting her get a better view. “Pretty.” 

“Sounds like someone’s hungry.” Anti chuckled when Annalise’s stomach growled loudly. He placed the ladybug on the arm of the couch and they watched as the insect move, it slowly became a cloud of pixels. 

“Magic,” Annalise said.

“Food?” Anti asked, holding his arms out. 

“Food!” Annalise jumped towards Anti and giggled as she was lifted up. 

“Do you know what you want?” He asked as he carried Annalise to the kitchen. 

“Something yummy,” Annalise answered.

“You’re gonna have to give me more than that,” Anti said as he sat Annalise down in a chair. 

“Hotdog?” Annalise started to swing her legs while Anti opened the fridge. 

“That, I can do.” Anti crouched down and opened a clear drawer, pulling out a pack of hotdogs before shutting the drawer and straightening up. “Do you want ketchup with it?” He asked as he grabbed the bottle, glancing over his shoulder and seeing Annalise nodding. “Paper plates…” Anti opened several cupboards, forgetting where they had stored them since they tended to use glass plates and just bought the paper ones a few days ago. “There they are.” He pulled out one of the plates. Anti grabbed one of the kitchen knives and sliced open the package. 

“Making Annalise a snack?” Dark asked as he entered the kitchen. 

“How was talking with Wilford?” Anti asked with a grin as he began chopping up the hotdog. 

“I’m letting him believe what he wants and I have to go in for a meeting tomorrow,” Dark spoke the last part quickly. Anti stopped chopping and shot Dark a glare. 

“You’re supposed to stay home all day tomorrow with me and Annalise,” Anti said. 

“I told him that, but the Jims are claiming to have found something and Host is starting to rambling about an event he would clarify on and Dr. Iplier is insisting on us getting together to try to figure out what they’re talking about.” Dark hated it when Anti would cut food without looking at it. “You’re going to hurt yourself.” He added in a softer tone. 

“Whatever.” Anti huffed, putting the sliced-up hotdog on the plate. 

“I tried to tell Wilford to handle it on his own, but we both know how well he does with that.” Dark watched Anti squirt some ketchup onto the plate.

“Do they know we have a child to take care of now?” Anti asked as he placed the plate in front of Annalise. 

“I haven’t told them yet,” Dark admitted. 

“Why-”

“Fork?” Annalise asked, patting the table. “Please.” She added when the two men didn’t move. 

“Why haven’t you told them yet?” Anti continued his question as he got a fork and handed it to Annalise.

“I was waiting for a proper time to make the announcement and there has not been one yet.” Dark protested.

“How difficult is it to start or end a meeting with ‘hey, I got a child now, I need to be home more to help out’?” Anti scoffed. 

“First day and we’re already arguing in front of the child that will probably only be here for a month,” Dark said harshly before he started leaving. 

“Don’t you dare walk out on me.” Anti grabbed Dark by the shoulder and pulled him aside. 

“Why do you keep on being an ass about this?” Anti hissed.

“Because it’s you. You have phases more often than the moon.” Dark peeked into the kitchen and saw that Annalise was happily chewing away at her food. “I’m praying that this phase is a quick one. I don’t want that poor girl to get too attached to you and then have you get sick of her.”

“I don’t have phases.”

“How many plants have died? How many fish have we flushed? How many unfinished art projects are there in the den?” Dark took Anti’s hands. “I know you very well, Anti and I don’t want you or the child to get hurt.” 

“This is not a phase. This is not a temporary thing. This is permanent, I don’t give up on everything, not everything I do is a phase.” Anti took one of his hands out of Dark’s and placed it on the demon’s chest. “I haven’t gotten sick of you.” He said before pressing a soft kiss against Dark’s lips. “And you’re stuck with me for a long time, Darky.” 

“I accepted that fate a long time ago.” Dark chuckled, taking his now freed hand to hold Anti’s cheek. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? Nothing will ever be the same.” 

“Good. The same is boring.” Anti chuckled. “I should go check on Annalise.” Dark lowered his hand and allowed Anti to go back to the kitchen

“We have a daughter,” Dark said to himself. “Holy shit.” 


	4. We're A Family

“The preschool will starting next week so we’ll need to start thinking of foods to pack for Annalise,” Dark said as he pushed the cart.

“Don’t they provide food there?” Anti asked as he walked alongside Dark.

“They do, but there is no way I’m trusting them to properly nourish Annalise,” Dark stated, stopping to take a look at the tomatoes.

“Tomaters,” Annalise said, kicking her legs out from the cart’s basket.

“Tomatoes.” Dark corrected as he picked out a few of them.

“They feed plenty of kids, I’m sure Ann will be fine,” Anti said as he rubbed the top of Annalise’s head, watching as Dark placed the tomatoes into a sheer plastic bag.

“She is currently underweight for a child of her age and size, she needs to gain some healthily. I will not let some undereducated human feed my child sugary sweets because they believe she’s not getting enough at home. Which she is.” Dark placed the bag into the cart.

“Your child?” Anti smiled a little.

“I forged hundreds of documents and signed both of our names on more sheets than I can count. She is my child.” Dark went back to the cart’s handle and went on.

“I’m glad to hear that you care for her.” Anti wrapped his arms around one of Dark’s.

“I haven’t been given much of a choice.” Dark sighed, rolling his eyes with a smile when Anti pecked his cheek.

“Ew.” Annalise giggled. She grabbed the book that was sitting next to her and she opened it up to the first page.

“Are we running low on coffee?” Anti asked as the entered the next aisle.

“I believe so.” Dark hummed as he continued walking, going to the bagged tea. He took one of the boxes off of the shelf and began reading the back. “This delicious infusion is bursting with summer fruit flavors; exotic, tangy pomegranate with sweet, velvety raspberries.” Dark read out loud, using a tone that made Annalise giggle. “Reading tea descriptions is an experience.” Dark chuckled as he tossed the box into the cart.

“Kitty!” Annalise said as she pointed to the picture in her book.

“That is a very adorable cat,” Dark said. “Now, what does the book say?”

“The cat says ‘meow’,” Annalise said the words slowly as she read.

“That was perfect.” Dark complimented.

“Meow!” Annalise clapped her hands.

“Cats also purr, did you know that?” Annalise nodded her head. “Anti can also purr.” Annalise gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “Remind me to have him show you that. It’s a little trick he picked up from a...friend of his.” Dark chuckled, a little smirk forming on his lips.

“They didn’t have our normal kind, but I thought this sounded cool. I got a small one just in case.” Anti said when he reached the cart, holding a small bag of coffee beans.

“Purr?” Annalise asked.

“Did you tell her?” Anti placed a hand on his hip as he raised a brow towards Dark.

“The cat says ‘meow’.” Was Dark’s answer. Anti sighed and rolled his eyes before he cleared his throat. He stood next to Annalise and made a purring sound, stopped when Annalise started laughing loudly.

“You a kitty!” Annalise giggled.

“And Dark’s a dog,” Anti said with a wink at Dark.

“Puppy?” Annalise started to flip through her book. “The dog says ‘bark’.” She read, looking up at Dark with expecting eyes.

“Bark, bark.” Dark sighed.

“Yay!” Annalise cheered and went back to her book.

“Have you told the others yet?” Anti asked when they went back to their shopping.

“There still hasn’t been a proper-”

“Ann has been living in our home for over two weeks, how has there not been a ‘proper’ time?” Anti huffed.

“Host has been saying something about an offspring causing pain to us all, everyone’s thoughts have been elsewhere during the meetings.” Dark looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was near. “Wilford said that Mark may be having a child.” Dark let out an exhale through his nose when Anti started laughing. “This is serious.”

“I know, I know,” Anti said as he kept laughing. “Just, Mark? Mark out of all people having a kid? That’s ridiculous.”

“We have one.” Dark’s comment made Anti stop.

“Oh shit.” The pause between them was interrupted by Anti’s phone going off. “Glitchers.” He sang. Dark saw the large smirk that slowly crawled onto Anti’s face as he listened. He knew that meant Anti was getting a really fun job. “One moment.” Anti snapped his fingers and a holographic notepad appeared in his hand. “As you should know, this line is secured, no one can trace this call nor will there be any evidence of this call ever happening,” Anti stated. “Now, tell me everything that I need to know to get this done.”

“What he doing?” Annalise asked, tilting her head in confusion when Dark told her to ‘shush’.

“Alright. Everything will be taken care of.” Anti hung up his phone and tucked it back into his jeans pocket. He ripped off a page from the notepad, making it become a cloud of pixels before he folded the page. Annalise was distracted by the cloud to see Anti press the folded page against his wrist and it vanishing into his skin.

“It’s good thing that Ann begins preschool next week, ‘cause I have a big hit.” Anti chuckled, his eyes flashing green for a moment before taking Dark’s arm. “And the payout is even bigger.”

_x~x~x_

Anti waited inside of the computer screen, unseen since it was black due to lack of activity. He was waiting for the perfect moment, the best time to strike. Two targets. One man and one woman. Both thirty years old. No children, no siblings, parents having died a few years ago. No other family besides themselves. They had friends, but they’d move on.

“I’m going to use the restroom.” The husband said as he got off of the bed.

“Okay, dear.” The wife didn’t even look up from her book.

Anti waited until he heard the click of the bathroom door before switching on the computer screen. The woman, Linda, turned her head when the light from the screen caught the corner of her eye. She shrugged and went back to her book. This was the time. Linda looked back at the computer when there was a soft laugh coming from it. Her voice got caught in her throat as a hand pushed through the screen. Linda hugged the book to her chest and started to crawl away from the computer as another arm joined the first one.

“Hello, Linda.” Anti greeted when his head emerged, one of his eyes a bright green. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl.” He giggled.

“Harold!” Linda screamed. Anti leaped out of the screen and landed on the woman.

“Mitch says that fucking him over was the worst mistake of your life,” Anti growled, summoning a knife out of thin air. “Goodbye, Linda.” He added before stabbing the woman in the throat, chuckled as she gargled, flailing her body in a last attempt to save her life, but it wasn’t long till she stopped.

“Linda!” Anti turned his head and saw that the man, Harold, was standing in the doorway.

“Hi, Harold.” Anti laughed and threw the knife, smirking when the man screamed as it stabbed the door next to his head. The man took off. He was a runner, that made it even better for Anti. “Don’t run, Harold,” Anti called as he got off of the bed, summoning another knife. “You’ll only die tired.” Anti launched himself out of the room and threw the knife, smiling when he caught the man’s sleeve, pinning it to the wall. Harold yelled as he yanked at his arm, seeing that Anti was slowly walking over to him. The man gave his arm one last tug, ripping the fabric of the shirt.

“Get away from me!” The man cried before taking off again.

“I can’t get paid if I do.” Anti shrugged before throwing another knife, hitting the back of Harold’s knee. The man screamed in pain as he fell.

“Why, why are you doing this?” Harold pleaded as he struggled to get up, limping away.

“Gotta pay the bills,” Anti said as two more knives appeared in his hands. “Plus this is fun as hell.” He added, twirling the knives.

“Whatever they’re paying you, I can double, no, triple it.” Harold offered.

“Sorry, pal.” Anti threw the knife and it went into the center of Harold’s stomach, making the man collapse into himself. “First comes first serve.” Anti aimed the knife at the man. “Goodbye, Harold.” He said before tossing the knife, smiling when he saw that it stabbed Harold between the eyes. “Perfect shot.” Anti’s giggle slowly became a full-fledged laugh. He held his head as he let his laughter tear through his body, his form glitching as he grew louder and louder, his voice distorting. Anti only stopped when a light bulb shattered, snapping him out of his trance. He shifted his body, loud pops coming from his body as he gathered himself. “Time to clean up,” Anti said before his eyes stopped glowing. The color traveled down his face, through neck and shoulder and down his arm. He held his hand out, palm up and a small green ball formed there. The ball rolled a little, a small tail came out of it and after it stopped moving, a blue iris formed with a large pupil. “Look at my little Sam.” Anti chuckled before pocketing it. He crouched down next to the body of Harold and pulled out the knives. “My little girl is gonna be home soon, I should do this the quick way.” He said to himself before straightening back up. “I wonder how much energy you’ve got in that body of yours.”

Anti held out his hands, his body losing color as clouds of bright green pixels came out of his hands, engulfing the corpse. The green slowly became red as it absorbed the body. The pixels began to grow and spread out, taking in all of the blood that was on the ground. They formed a trail that lead into the bedroom, taking care of that mess as well. Eventually, the pixels were done and they returned to Anti, entering him throughout his entire body. Anti was glowing a bright red for a moment before it slowly shifted to green and finally, he was back to his normal tone. The man groaned as the energy shifted through him, causing a shiver to travel down his spine. A curse escaped his lips and after popping one more time, he was back.

Anti made sure that everything was fine. Both bodies were gone, there was no blood, no sign that there had been anyone in this house besides Harold or Linda. Anti really loved his job. He went back into the bedroom, placing a hand on the computer screen before becoming pixels and going into it. He followed the link used on his employer’s phone, after making sure that he wasn’t looking at the screen, he jumped through.

“You fucking scared me.” The man cursed when Anti appeared behind him, unknowing to the fact of how Anti got there.

“It’s done.” Anti took out the eye and handed it to the man. A projection came out of the eye, showing the man a first-person view of the couple’s death.

“Damn, you are one fucked-up man.” The man commented as the recording ended. He dropped the eye, crushing it with his foot. The shattered pieces crawled along the floor and went under Anti’s foot. “I hope someone like you doesn’t have kids.” He added with a laugh as he handed Anti a briefcase.

“Yeah…” Was Anti’s response as the man walked away.

“I’ll call if I need anything else.” The man said.

“Yeah…” Anti repeated, taking out his phone and seeing the time. “Shit.” He muttered before becoming a puff of pixels.

“The bus is going to be here any moment,” Dark said when Anti appeared in the center of his office.

“At least I’m not late,” Anti said as he started to rub his body, making the leftover pixels go away and becoming Triston.

“How did the job go?” Dark asked as they stepped out of the room.

“Flawlessly.” Anti winked, opening the door and seeing that the bus was just pulling up. “I’ll tell you all of the detail when Ann is in bed.” He added as he opened the door and the two headed for the bus. “There’s my princess!” Anti greeted Annalise loudly as she skipped off of the bus and ran to him.

“Thank you,” Dark said to the bus driver as the man waved, closed the doors, and pulled away.

“You have to tell me everything that you did,” Anti said, carrying Annalise into the house.

“I’ll cut up some apples for us,” Dark said after shutting the front door.

“I like apples,” Annalise said to Anti as she was brought into the dining room.

“I like apples too.” Anti sat Annalise down and sat next to her. “Did you like your first day?”

“It was fun.” Annalise nodded her head while speaking. “The lady nice.”  

“I hope she was.” Anti looked up and saw Dark walking in, a plate of sliced up apples in his hand. “Ann said that the lady was nice.”

“Good. I’m not paying her to be mean to my child.” Dark sat down across from Anti.

“Apples!” Annalise cheered and took a slice, putting it into her mouth and chewing on it.

“If only you were as excited about vegetables.” Dark chuckled. “But you are getting much better already.”

“Viana’s coming back to visit on Thursday, hopefully, she thinks the same,” Anti said, helping Annalise remove her backpack.

“She’d have to be insane to think that we’re bad parents.” Dark chuckled.

Anti got lost in his thoughts after that comment. The man’s comment about hoping that he didn’t have kids rang in his head. Should someone like him be in charge of a child? He went through people’s electronics to find information to blackmail them with. He forged emails, changed timestamps, created false images. He killed people for money. He enjoyed killing people for money. What if he snapped, what if he hurt Annalise?

“Anti…” A touch on his hand brought Anti back to where he was. He saw that Dark was holding his hand.

“Sorry, zoned out.” Anti heard a shuffling and noticed that Annalise was digging into her backpack.

“Annalise said that she made a drawing today and is excited to show us.” Dark filled Anti in, concern in his eyes.

“What did you draw?” Anti asked, taking the paper that Annalise was holding out.

“Us.” Annalise stood in her chair and pointed at the title of the paper. “My family.” She added and, moving her hand to point at a small stick figure wearing a pink shirt. “That me.” Annalise moved her hand again and was now pointing at a stick figure that had green squares around it. “That you, daddy.” Anti tensed up when Annalise said that. He swallowed thickly as his entire body heated up with joy, he could feel that his eyes were getting wet.

“Are you going to cry?” Dark teased lightly as he walked over to Anti, standing behind him.

“No…” Anti said with a sniff. Annalise pointed at the other taller figure, red and blue surrounding it.

“That papa.”

“Okay, now I’m crying,” Anti admitted and hugged Annalise.

“It’s just a name,” Dark said, his voice cracking a little.

“Shut up and hug your family.” Anti smiled as Dark wrapped his arms around the two.

“Can I play with my dolls?” Annalise asked. Anti and Dark both released the little girl and they watched as she walked away.

“We’re a family.” Anti said as he looked at the picture again. “We’re a family.” He repeated as Dark put his hands on his shoulders and rubbed them.

“Who knew that a demon and a virus would have a child.” Dark chuckled, moving to the side and cupping Anti’s chin. “I love you, Anti.”

“I love you too, Dark.” Anti leaned into the kiss Dark pressed against his lips.

“You gross!” Annalise called from the doorway.

“You wanna know who else is gross?” Anti asked after they parted, standing up and holding his hands out. “The tickle-monster!” Annalise squeaked and took off. “I’m gonna get ya!” Anti said as he went after the little girl. Dark shook his head with a smile and he picked up the drawing.

“Who knew a demon could feel love?” He asked himself.

“Backup, I need backup!” Anti shouted from the other room. Dark rolled his eyes and sat the picture down. He took out his phone and sat it next to the picture before leaving the room.

“The Dark-osaurus is here!” Dark let out a fake ‘roar’.

None of them saw that the phone’s battery life suddenly started to drain, dying in a matter of seconds.


	5. Marriage?

Anti sat on the ground, back leaning against the couch while Annalise was sitting between his legs, leaning against his stomach and chest. She raised her hand and touched a green, holographic ‘2’. The number glowed yellow and vanished, the other numbers and symbols around and above it changing into new forms. 

“What’s two plus two?” Anti asked as the projections matched what he was saying, a ‘3’, ‘4’, and ‘5’ floated under the question. Annalise hummed as she counted off her fingers. She nodded her head when she was satisfied with her answer and she touched the ‘4’. Annalise cheered and clapped when the number glowed yellow. 

“My princess is a genius.” Anti chuckled. 

“Papa smart too.” Annalise said. 

“What about daddy?” Anti asked.

“Daddy silly.” Annalise giggled. 

“Sounds like our daughter really is a genius.” Dark chuckled as he picked up an empty cup off of the coffee table. 

“When’s Viana supposed to get here?” Anti watched Annalise as she swatted at the clumps of pixels, giggling when they formed into butterflies. 

“She’ll be here any minute now. I came out here to tell you to get ready. Annalise needs pants and so do you.” Dark said as he checked the living room, making sure that nothing else was left out. 

“Pants for losers.” Annalise said. 

“Yeah, papa, pants are for losers.” Anti chuckled. 

“Go get dressed or papa’s not giving either of you dessert tonight.” Dark threatened, the meaning being two completely different things for Anti and Annalise. 

“No ice-cream!?” Annalise gasped in shock. 

“Whatever shall we do without papa’s sweet treat?” Anti winked at Dark as he stood, picking Annalise up with him. 

“Don’t make innuendos in front of our child.” Dark sighed. 

“You started it.” Anti stuck his tongue out as he walked away. 

“I did not...wait…” Dark groaned when he realized what Anti meant. “At least it worked.” He straightened up when the doorbell went off. Dark made sure that his tie was on properly before going over to the door. “Hello, Viana.” He greeted after opening the door. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Powell.” Viana greeted back.

“Please, call me Isaac.” Dark said as Viana walked in. 

“Alright, then, Isaac. Where are Triston and Annalise?” Viana asked, her clipboard hugged tightly to her chest. 

“They’re getting ready.” Dark lead Viana to the living room. “I do hope we can get through this a little quicker since I have a meeting to attend later this afternoon. I tried to tell my coworkers I had plans, but they claim it’s an emergency.” 

“I only need a few minutes to talk with Annalise, ask you a few questions and glanced over the house again.” Viana said. “You should have plenty of time to make your meeting.” 

“Thank you.” 

“So, while we’re waiting on your partner and Annalise. I might as well ask the questions I have for you.” Viana clicked her pen. “How is Annalise doing?”

“She’s doing great. Her weight gain is at a healthy weight and she should be at the proper weight in another two weeks or so. She just had her first day at preschool yesterday and has said nothing but positive things about her experience and she said today went great as well.”

“Did she draw this?” Viana asked, seeing Annalise’s family drawing on the table. 

“Yes, she’s taken to calling me ‘papa’ and Triston ‘daddy’.” Dark answered. 

“She’s clearly grown attached to you two.” Viana commented. “Although, she did chose some interesting color choices.” She added. 

“She’s a very creative child.” Dark chuckled. 

“Do you mind if I ask a personal question?” Viana suddenly said. 

“Be my guest.”

“Have you thought about marriage?” Dark stiffened a little, was not expecting that.

“Marriage?”

“Yes. You and Triston are clearly very close and you’ve been together for a long time and now that you have a daughter, marriage seems like a logical choice. Not just for legal reasons, but being able to call someone your ‘spouse’ rather than ‘partner’ seems more intimate.” Viana suggested. 

“I honestly haven’t thought of that. We’ve just been happy with where we are at the moment, marriage hasn’t come to mind.” Dark thought that he was telling the truth, but something deep inside of him said something else. 

“The lady of the hour is ready.” Anti cheered as he entered the room, holding Annalise who was wearing her favorite pink tutu. “She didn't want to wear anything else.” Anti explained when Dark gave him a look. 

“Viana wants to talk with you, okay? Me and daddy will be in my office.” Dark said to Annalise. The little girl looked hesitant but nodded. 

“I’ll be sure to be quick.” Viana said as Dark and Anti stepped into the office. 

“What do you think she’s gonna ask Ann?” Anti said the moment the door was closed. 

“Simple questions related to how we’re treating her and how she feels.” Dark answered. “Annalise is a smart girl, this shouldn’t take long.” He added as he sat at his desk and opened his laptop, logging in. 

“Did the money transfer through?” Anti sat on the edge of the desk. 

“I checked this morning and what I deposited went through with no questions. Most of it is still in the briefcase, but I know you like having some money on a card as well.” 

“Glitchers is a great business, isn’t it?” Anti chuckled. 

“Yes, every mobster and angry ex loves their computer technician.” Dark patted Anti’s leg, keeping his hand in the center of the thigh. 

“I wouldn’t be here without my supervisor.” Anti grinned, leaning forward and placing his hand on Dark’s. “Although, I did have to fuck my way to the top.” 

“You made your own name, the sex was just bonus.” Dark slowly moved his hand up. 

“And still is.” Anti crawled off of the desk and settled himself down into Dark’s lap. “Do you think we have time?”

“Not at all.” Dark practically purred as Anti ran his hands through his hair and kissed him. Anti actually purred when Dark began to nip at his neck, his hands gripping his hips tightly and moving them at a slow, even, pace.

“Isaac, we’re finished.” Viana said as she knocked on the door. 

“I’m not.” Anti mumbled as he reluctantly got up. 

“Your eyes are green.” Dark whispered as he stood, making sure his suit wasn’t ruffled. Anti blinked harshly a few times while Dark opened the door. 

“I’m assuming that everything went well?” Dark asked. 

“It went perfectly. I already did a quick look-over and I’ll be off. I hope your meeting goes well.” 

“Thank you and I hope your day goes well.” Dark followed Viana to the front door, hearing that Anti had gone over to Annalise and was praising her. 

“Thank you, Isaac, and don’t forget about what I said. It might do you two a lot of good.” Viana smiled. 

“I’ll be sure to think about it.” Dark smiled back.

“I’ll be back next month.” 

“I can’t wait.” Dark shut the door, his skin immediately going gray. 

_ Marriage? _

Dark wasn’t able to get into his head before his phone began to buzz, an alarm that he had set earlier was going off. He turned the alarm off and pocketed the phone. Dark went to the living room, seeing that Anti and Annalise were laying on the ground, pointing at the stars that were floating in the air. 

“I’m off to my meeting.” Dark announced. 

“You have to go?” Annalise pouted. 

“Do you?” Anti added, pouting as well. 

“I’ll try to get back as soon as possible, okay? I’ll even make dinner.” Dark offered.

“Promise?” Both Anti and Annalise said. 

“Promise.” Dark said before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. 

“Do you wanna see where papa works?” Anti asked.

“Yeah!” 

_ x~x~x _

Anti crawled on the floor, the glass windows the looked into the meeting room was above his head. Annalise was crawling next to him, having a hard time holding back her giggles. 

“Host has yet to figure out which offspring it is.” Host said, his voice echoing in Anti’s head. He had to know that he was there, but Host also probably knew why he was there and was keeping it a secret. 

“We’ll just give Mark a vasectomy and boom, no offspring.” Dr. Iplier suggested. 

“He can just adopt and that would still be classified as an offspring since the definition of an offspring is ‘a person's child or children’.” Google stated. 

“Perhaps we can discuss this tomorrow and move on?” Dark suggested.

“Why are you in a hurry to leave?” Bim asked. 

“He’s got someone waiting at home for him, can you blame the guy?” Wilford laughed. “I’d want to be home as soon as I could if I had someone waiting.” 

“He’s got someone to suck that dick.” Bing teased, air-horn sounds started playing. 

“He sound silly.” Annalise said. 

“He is. Now, you know the plan?” Anti leaned towards the door, seeing that Wilford wasn’t looking. 

“I go and yell ‘papa’.” Annalise said to make sure she was correct. 

“Good, go and get him.” Anti chuckled as his daughter run through the glass doors. 

“Papa!” Annalise yelled. Dark stiffened when he heard that, the other Ipliers all watching the little girl run to Dark. 

“How did you get here?” Dark asked as he picked up Annalise. 

“Did she call you ‘papa’?” Dr. Iplier asked.

“Dark’s a daddy!?” Bing gasped. 

“He papa.” Annalise pointed at Dark. “He daddy.” She pointed at Anti as entered the room. 

“Surprise, honey.” Anti chuckled. 

“She looks absolutely precious.” Wilford said as he joined Anti and Dark. “What’s your name?” Annalise looked at Dark. 

“He’s a friend.” Dark said and sat her down at the edge of the table. 

“I Annalise.” Annalise answered. 

“We got ourselves a little Annie Oakley here, wanna see my gun?” Wilford asked, reaching into his holster. 

“A what?” Annalise tilted her head.

“You are not showing my daughter a gun.” Dark growled, grabbing Wilford’s arm. 

“She’s not gonna get hurt.” Wilford protested. 

“Open your mouth and go ‘ah’.” Dr. Iplier said, holding a small flashlight in front of Annalise. 

“Wanna see something really fucking dope?” Bing yelped and held his head when Dark thumped him. 

“Watch your language.” Dark’s voice had a harsh threat in it. 

“What’s wrong with ‘dope’.” Bing quickly retreated under the table when Dark’s aura grew. 

“He silly.” Annalise said while nodding her head. 

“At least the child is intelligent.” Google commented. “Although, that is to be expected of Dark’s offspring.” 

“So, how long have you had this little princess?” Wilford asked. “And why haven’t you told me about her?”

“Remember when you called and I answered and you thought me and Dark were having an ‘adult’ moment?” Anti said, using his finger to make the air quotes. 

“Yes, I still tease Dark about it.” Wilford chuckled. “You two just can’t keep your hand off each other.” 

“That day was when Annalise was officially put into our home.” Anti said. “Dark wasn’t sucking me, I just hit my toe on the desk.” 

“What lead to that decision?” Dr. Iplier asked. 

“Dark and Anti both share a look, debating whether to tell the full story of their first meeting with Annalise, knowing the negative reaction they will receive.” Host said from his seat. 

“He bleeding.” Annalise whispered. 

“He’s fine.” Anti whispered back. 

“Negative reaction? How did you meet Annalise?” Bim asked. 

“Yeah-ow.” Bing grunted after there was a thud under the table, letting everyone know he had just hit his head. 

“Silly man okay?” Annalise asked, leaning over to look under the table. 

“Yeah...silly man okay.” Bing groaned. 

“Do that a few more times and maybe you’ll reset to default settings.” Google mumbled. 

“You mean.” Annalise said.

“I’m a machine.” Google stated.

“You mean machine.” Annalise stuck her tongue out. 

“She learned that from her daddy.” Dark sighed. 

“Now, don’t be dancing around our question. How did you meet Annie?” Wilford asked. 

“So...Dark was on the phone and I was in the living room.”

“Pouting.”

“Scrolling through Tumblr.” Anti lightly slapped Dark’s arm. “I heard screaming and when I opened the front door, Annalise was tied to the screen door handle.” 

“She was what!?” Wilford snapped. 

“Lower your voice.” Dark hissed when he saw that Annalise was starting to cry. 

“I sorry. I sorry.” Annalise rubbed her eyes. 

“It’s fine, dear. Everything’s fine.” Anti scooped Annalise up and started to rock her, stepping out of the room.  

“She was tied to your door?” Wilford asked in a harsh whisper. 

“That’s what Anti told me, I came out of my office and saw a child in my kitchen. Anti ended up getting attached to her quickly. No one else in her family wanted her so he convinced me to figure out a way to get her into our home.” Dark answered, shooting Bim a glare when he made a whipping sound. 

“Am I wrong?” Bim asked with a grin. 

“You’re going to be six-feet under.” Dark warned. 

“I think I dropped my watch.” Bim said, sinking down and joining Bing under the table. 

“She was abandoned, poor girl.” Wilford said. 

“Abandonment is more common than you think, in fact-”

“I don’t want to hear the statistics.” Dark interrupted Google. “Listen, all I care at the moment is that Annalise is my daughter and I want the best for her. I don’t care about her blood relatives since they don’t care for her. I’m hoping all of you respect our decision and will be willing to work with us.” 

“Of course, ol’ chap.” Wilford said, clapping Dark on the back. 

“She’s clearly very healthy and happy, no complaints here.” Dr. Iplier said. 

“I’ll help with some research if needed.” Google offered while Bing and Bim held up their thumbs from under the table. 

“Host shows his support as well, offering any assistance if Dark and Anti so choose.” Host said. 

“So, while we’re discussing Dark. When you gonna pop a ring on it?” Wilford asked, giving Dark a light push on the shoulder.  

“Excuse me?”

“Come on! You’ve been with that chap for years. You’re living together and you have a child.” Wilford grabbed Dark by the shoulders. “Just marry him already.” 

“What I choose to do is up to me. I will not be pressured into making a very serious life-choice.” Dark stated, slapping Wilford’s hands away. 

“Fine. But when you finally do, I better be the best man or...one of them...however that works.” Wilford chuckled. 

“Ann’s calmed down.” Anti said as he came back into the room. “I’m going to take her back to the house.” 

“I’ll come with you. We got too off track to continue. I’ll be seeing all of you at the next meeting.” Dark said and went over to Anti. 

“Don’t forget about what I said, Dark.” Wilford called as Dark and Anti left. Dark only waved a goodbye before he and Anti vanished. Leaving him to think to himself that it was going to be difficult for him to forget that. 


	6. Yes!

“Yes, I’ll be sure to invite you over to see Annalise,” Dark said into the phone, leaning his elbow against his desk. “She just got frightened is all.” The demon chuckled a little as he stood up. “She doesn’t hate you. If she can get over the fact that her fathers are creatures from another dimension. One of them being a literal virus and the other one being gray with a large aura glowing behind him. I think she can handle a man with a pink mustache.” Dark went to the office door, opening it. “Maybe tomorrow. Anti and I were planning on having a quiet Friday night.” Dark gently closed the door behind him. “I’ll let you know when you can come visit. Goodbye, Wilford.”

“Three apple, four apple.” Dark was putting his phone away when he saw Annalise sitting in front of the coffee table, counting apple slices as she put them into a bowl.

“I’m shocked that you have pants on,” Dark commented as Anti walked past him. 

“I’m sure they don’t wanna see my junk.” Anti placed a bowl of chips on the coffee table. 

“‘They’?” 

“Septics!” Annalise clapped her hands. 

“Did I forget to tell you that the Septiceyes are coming over?” Anti asked with a smile. 

“A warning would have been pleasant.” Dark huffed, crossing his arms when there was a knock. 

“Well, you got your warning. Come in!” Anti called. 

“I heard someone’s got a surprise for us?” Chase called back as he opened the door. 

“Ze good docta is here!” Dr. Schneeplestein pushed his way past Chase. 

“And Jackieboy man!” The superhero announced as he charged in.  

“I’ll go get some refreshments.” Dark sighed. 

“So what’s the-is that a child!?” Marvin gasped. 

“Kitty!” Annalise got up and walked over to the magician. “You kitty!” 

“What’s your name?” Chase asked as he sat down on the ground. Annalise looked over at Anti and the glitch nodded. 

“I Annalise.”

“I’m Chase.” Chase held a hand out towards Annalise, smiling when the little girl giggled and slapped his palm. 

“High-five!” Annalise cheered as she tapped the hand several more times. 

“I would like to know how you produced a child without our knowledge.” Dr. Schneeplestein asked while Marvin, Jackieboy, and Chase were both playing with Annalise. 

“We adopted her about a month ago,” Anti said. 

“And why haven’t we been told about this little princess?” Chase poked at Annalise’s nose, earning a giggle. 

“ _ Someone _ didn’t want me to tell anyone.” 

“I wanted to wait until we were sure this was a permanent thing.” Dark protested as he entered the living room, a tray of glasses in his hands. He sat the tray on the coffee table, taking two glasses and handing one to Anti when he went back to him.

“Where kitty?” Annalise started searching the room, looking under the couch. 

“Marvin?” Anti called out. “Marvin where-”

“Wanna see a magic trick?” Marvin rushed out of Dark’s office, holding a large briefcase. 

“Is that the briefcase with the…” Anti cursed as he and Dark rushed over to the magician. 

“Wait!” Dark and Anti both stopped and stared when the briefcase vanished in a puff of white smoke. 

“Marvin, you dumbass!” Anti snapped, grabbing Marvin by the front of the shirt. “That was a million dollars you just made go away!” Annalise shrunk away, going behind Chase to hide.

“A million!?” Dr. Schneeplestein gasped. “Where does one get that kind of money?” 

“That’s a lot.” Jackieboy nodded his head. 

“Bring it back!” Dark demanded, not hearing Annalise whimper.

“I can, I can. Very easily, just let me go.” Marvin was obviously shaken when he stumbled a little after being released. “I...I…” Marvin’s hands were trembling. 

“No, be sad, kitty.” Annalise went over to Marvin and hugged his leg. Dark was about to say something but stopped when he saw Marvin’s hands glowing. The magician chuckled a little before clapping his hands, the briefcase reappearing on the coffee table. “Yay!” Annalise cheered. 

“I have no idea what that was, but that was amazing!” Marvin laughed, his hands no longer glowing. “This house must have a magical source in it or something?” 

“Daddy magic too,” Annalise said, she walked over to Anti and held her arms up. “No yelling?” Her eyes were wide as she asked. 

“I’m sorry, Ann. We must have scared you.” Anti said as he scooped his daughter up. “No more yelling.” He sniffed and made a face. “Your turn.” Was all Anti said as he handed Dark Annalise. 

“Why does potty training take so long?” Dark grumbled as he walked away. 

“She’s not potty trained yet? She should at least be in pull-ups.” Dr. Schneeplestein stated. 

“We’re trying. She’s a lot better than when we first got her, it’s like she’s scared of the toilet or something.” Anti said, going over to his couch and sitting. 

“My kids took a while to potty train,” Chase said, joining Anti. “She’ll get the hang of it eventually.” He added with a back pat. 

“Thanks.” Anti chuckled, seeing that Marvin, Jackieboy and Dr. Schneeplestein had found the snacks and were helping themselves. 

“I’m shocked you don’t have a ring yet,” Chase said. 

“A ring?” Anti raised a brow. 

“You and Dark aren’t married yet. You two live together and got a kid and yet, no ring.” Chase leaned back against the couch. “Smart move.” 

“Aren’t you married?” Anti asked. 

“Eh.” Chase shrugged. “If you wanna call it that.” He started to pick his fingers. “I don’t know what happened, but the moment we got married, everything went to shit. The best thing to come out of that was our kids.” Anti swallowed thickly as Chase spoke. “It was great when we were just boyfriend and girlfriend, but it got weird when we started calling each other ‘fiance’. Something broke. It was like the magic that was there just faded away.” Anti did not like the ball of anxiety that was forming in his chest. “Stacy just kind of stopped caring about us. She didn’t want to be with me as much anymore. It’s like she got sick of me the moment the ring went on. Everything just kind of faded over time. I still love her and the kids...but sometimes it’s hard to stay where you’re not wanted.” Chase chewed on his lip, he looked at Anti and saw the fear in his eyes. He suddenly smiled and lightly shoved Anti by the shoulder. “Perk up, man. Like hell that’s gonna happen to you.” 

“Yeah…” Anti stared at the ground as Chase got up. 

“How about you tell us how you got the million dollars, that’s a shit ton of dough.” Chase picked up a glass and downed it. 

“Glitchers,” Anti said, getting up and joining the other Septiceyes. 

“How many?” Marvin asked.

“Two.” 

“I bet that was most fun.” Dr. Schneeplestein chuckled. 

“A little more than it should have,” Anti muttered, 

“I’ll see you soon,” Dark said into his phone as he came back into the living room, Annalise walking in front of him. 

“Who were you talking too?” Anti asked. 

“You’ll find out.” Dark chuckled.

“Wha-” 

“Ain’t no party like a Wilford party!” Wilford shouted after kicking open the front door. 

“You can’t party without a host!” Bim chuckled. 

“Let’s rock this shit!” Bing made shooting sounds with his mouth while Google walked behind him, clearly annoyed. Host said nothing as he entered as well, the Jim twins crouching behind his legs. 

“Dark...what am I missing?” Anti asked. 

“I just wanted everyone to be here while I asked you something,” Dark said, waiting for everyone to get into the living room. 

“Ask me what?” Anti stiffened when Dark pulled out a small box. 

“Holy shit!” Chase cursed, slapping at Marvin’s shoulder. 

“I knew it.” Wilford sang, wrapping his arms around Bim and squealing. 

“Anti...” Dark chewed at his lip. “I never have been one for emotions. I honestly believed that I didn’t really have them or at least, I didn’t have positive ones.” Anti felt his lower lip tremble. “I never knew what happiness was until you came into my life. We started off as enemies, hating each other from our cores and all of the hatred lead to a night that I will never forget. I thought you were going to leave. That it was a one-time thing, but when you showed up at the Iplier house, face red from embarrassment and you kissed me. I knew this was more than just a fling. We built a home together, we built a life together. We made a family.” 

Dark took in a deep breath before going down on one knee, more sounds erupted for the other egos. “I used to believe that I would never know what love felt like. That love was for the weak and it would only get in the way. I was wrong. I know what love is. I know that it only makes me stronger. I love you, Anti.” Dark held up the box and opened it up, revealing a golden ring. “Will you marry me?” 

Anti was frozen. He only stared. Was this really happening? There was no way that Dark was doing this? Anti didn’t know whether to throw up, cry, or scream with joy. What if what Chase said was true. What if marriage ruined everything? He didn’t want to lose Dark. Not after everything that has happened. After everything, they’ve been through. He didn’t want him to go. 

“Dark…” Anti saw the hope in Dark’s eyes, the worry, the prayer he was probably repeating in his head over and over as each second ticked by that he didn’t answer. Anti slowly smiled, seeing that it was making Dark do the same. Chase was wrong. He was not Chase. “Yes.” Anti voice was very soft. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” He exclaimed, throwing himself down and hugging Dark, both of them falling over. “Yes,” Anti said again, giving Dark a kiss. 

“Save that for the honeymoon, you two.” Wilford chuckled. 

“You’re supposed to wait?” Anti said with a smirk. 

“Happy!” Annalise giggled, going over to her dads and hugging them. 

“Happy.” Dark laughed as he was helped to his feet, continuing as cheers of joy filled the house. 

Everything was happy. Everything was great. Nothing could ruin this. Nothing could take this away.

_ Nothing _ . 


	7. I Don't

“The song says ‘here comes the bride, all dressed in white’ not, ‘here he is, decked out in black’,” Chase complained as he helped Anti with his bowtie. 

“The song also says ‘bride’ not ‘virus demon from hell’.” Anti chuckled. “And I’m wearing a red shirt, am I not?” 

“Red and black, what kind of wedding colors are those?” Marvin scoffed from a chair that was in the corner of the room. 

“Are you going to take that mask off?” Chase asked, heading for the other man. 

“You touch my mask, I’m sending you to a different planet,” Marvin warned. 

“You can’t take it off for one day? You’re one of Anti’s groomsmen, take this seriously.” 

“I’m in a suit, am I not?” Marvin mimicked the movement Anti had made. 

“This suit feels weird over my superhero suit,” Jackieboy said, messing with the buttons of his shirt. 

“You’re wearing…” Chase pinched his nose and sighed. 

“Everything’s going fine, best man.” Anti patted Chase’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” 

“I try my best.” Chase chuckled. 

“Excuse me, they’re ready for the groomsmen.” A young man said after peeking his head into the room. 

“Oh, shit...it’s time. Oh, fuck.” Anti started taking deep breaths. 

“You’re getting married, not giving birth.” Chase teased as Marvin, Jackieboy and Dr. Schneeplestein left the room. 

“We’ll let you know when we’re ready.” The man said before going away. The worker showed the Septiceyes where to go. 

“Is he doing okay?” Dark asked. 

“Yes, Mr. Powell, he’s fine. You need to get to the entrance, this wedding is already behind.” The man ushered Dark to his spot. “He’s here, the groomsmen are pairing up. I’ll get Mr. Frost, you can start.” The man said into the microphone that was taped to his face. 

Dark tensed up when the song started playing. The song that told him that he needed to walk. He needed to move. He got a light tap on the shoulder and he turned to see Wilford giving him a thumbs-up and a smile. 

“You got this, pal,” Wilford whispered as he looped his arm through Dark’s. 

“Thank you.” Dark whispered back before taking a breath through his nose. With one large step, he went through the golden ribbons that were blocking his view of the main room. He walked with his head high. He felt his entire body radiating with confidence and joy as he moved. Wilford was stepping at the same time as him, their movement strong and fluid. Dark could hear whispers and he knew that they were all saying things about him. They were commenting about him and his attire. And he loved every second of it. Dark was shocked to see that Google was smiling at him as he got closer to the machine. 

“Congratulations, Dark,” Google said softly as he hugged the demon. Dark smiled his thanks and took his spot, Wilford standing beside him. Dark watched as the egos all traveled down the aisle in pairs, arms linked together. 

Host’s face was facing forward, walking stiffly while Marvin was looking around, but walking properly. Bim and Jackieboy were practically bouncing as they came down. Dr. Iplier and Dr. Schneeplestein were the only ones to look somewhat normal as they walked.  All of the egos took their respective places, leaving room for two more adults. Dark glanced over at Bing who was sitting at the sound both and with a nod, the music paused for a moment. Everyone stood as the  _ Bridal Chorus  _ played.

“My little girl,” Dark whispered, seeing Annalise walked down with a basket of petals. She was giggling and smiling as she tossed out the petals. She placed the basket down when it was empty and ran the rest of the way to Dark. “You did great.” He said.

“Daddy,” Annalise said, pointing. Dark followed the finger and his chest warmed up. Anti was walking down with Chase but Dark only saw Anti. The man’s smile was wide and his eyes were bright. He was so happy. Dark wanted him to be this happy for the rest of eternity. Anti rarely wore fancy clothes, let alone a suit and Dark was grateful that he waited until today to see Anti dressed up. Everything was on him perfectly, it hugged the right places and accentuated the amazing parts of the body Dark knew so well.  

“You’re crying,” Anti said.

“You’re beautiful,” Dark said back, taking Anti’s hands into his. 

“Pretty.” Annalise agreed.  

“Ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls, people of all ages, I welcome you to this happy day,” Google said after everyone had sat down. “This is a day of joy. Of peace. Of love. These two have known each other for many years, first as enemies and now, they are soon to be spouses. They took in a child, a child that has only made their love stronger and they have chosen to make their love a true statement. They have chosen to be bound under the heavens, promising to always love each other. Through sickness or health. Through thick or thin. They will always be there for each other.” Anti could feel tears forming in his eyes, seeing that Dark’s were still wet and he could Chase was sniffing behind him. “If anyone wishes to protest, speak now or forever hold their peace.” There was a pause. “Darkiplier.” Google’s voice projected a different name to anyone that wasn’t an ego or Annalise. “Do you take Antisepticeye to be your spouse. To love and to hold, until your days are done?”

“I do,” Dark said, giving Anti’s hand a light squeeze. 

“And do you, Antisepticeye, take Darkiplier to be your spouse. To love and to hold, until your days are done?” 

“I do,” Anti whispered, his voice hoarse from holding back his tears. 

“Then I do now pronounce you married, you may kiss.” Google stepped back as Anti grabbed Dark’s face and pulled him into a kiss, the crowd cheering as music played. 

“We’re married.” Anti laughed.

“We’re married.” Dark scooped Annalise up, took Anti’s hand and lead his now-husband out of the room. 

Everyone slowly piled into a separate room, taking their seats at their assigned tables. They chatted amongst themselves until Anti, Dark, and Annalise entered the room, all of them clapping as they took their seats. 

“Cake!” Annalise shouted as she threw her arms into the air. 

“We have to eat dinner first,” Dark said, standing up.

“Aw, no fun.” Annalise pouted, earning a few laughs from the crowd. 

“I would like to say thank you to all of you for coming out here this evening. This wedding was planned in only a month and it would not have been possible without the help of our lovely friends.” Dark said and sat back down, gesturing for the servers to begin passing out the food.  

“Let me tell you a few things about my pal here,” Wilford said as he got up. “I’ve known him for a long time. We’ve been through a lot more than what people would believe and he never gave up on me. He is not a quitter. He will find a way to make sure that everything works out for everyone. And I know that he will be a great husband and an even better father.” Wilford bowed a little and sat back down as the crowd applauded. 

“Life is never the kindest to everyone.” Chase started taking his turn to speak. “Sometimes the world feels as if it’s been turned upside down as if it will never get better. But it does. Life does get better. To go from hating each other to marrying in a few years is proof that the world isn’t always a terrible place. I know deep down in my heart that these two love-birds will stay like this. Love-birds. Years and years from now when most couples have given up, they will be acting as if they just got married. May your years be filled with endless joy.” Chase gave Anti a pat on the shoulder before sitting. 

“Let’s eat!” Anti chuckled. 

_ x~x~x _

“ _ It's been said and done. Every beautiful thought's been already sung. And I guess right now here's another one _ .” Dark sang as he and Anti danced together in the center of their living room. Annalise was sitting on the couch, laughing and clapping along to the beat of the song playing on the radio. The wedding had ended an hour ago, but Anti and Dark were still filled with all the excitement and adrenaline from it. 

“ _ I, I love you like a love song, baby _ .” The two sang together. 

“Love song!” Annalise tried to sing along as well. 

“We’re not letting Wilford drink at our anniversary party.” Anti chuckled.

“Oh? Don’t you love a drunk Wilford sobbing as he sings ‘ _ I will always love you’ _ ?” Dark held Anti close and spun them in a circle. 

“I think you singing ‘ _ I got you babe’ _ , is what started the sobbing.” Anti let out a laugh when Dark tilted him back. 

“How could I not sing that? My voice is perfect for it.” Dark gave Anti a peck before pulling him back up. 

“How long is this ‘honeymoon’ phase supposed to last? I could get used to an affectionate Darky.” Anti let out a light gasp when Dark squeezed his rear. 

“I can last all night.” Dark whispered into his ear. 

“Wait till we get Ann to bed, big boy.” Anti chuckled. 

“Time for bed, Annalise,” Dark announced, releasing Anti. 

“Someone’s impatient.” Anti teased. 

“Look at my husband, how could I not be impatient?” Dark ran a hand through Anti’s hair. “Even though that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” 

“I-” Anti stopped when there was a knock on the door. 

“Everyone went home,” Dark said as he walked over to it. 

“It’s two in the morning,” Anti added, staying behind. 

“I’m so sorry Isaac,” Viana said before three officers burst into the house. 

“What is happening?” Dark demanded. 

“Don’t touch her!” Anti yelled from behind him. 

“Sir, we have been authorized to remove this child from this home.” One of the officers said, yanking Annalise out of Anti’s arms. 

“Hey!” Dark shouted, running over to the officer.  

“Isaac, please. You have to let them take her.” Viana said. 

“You’re not taking my daughter!” Anti was about to lash out, but Dark grabbed him. “No! No!” Anti screamed, trying to fight against Dark. 

“You come to my home at two in the morning right after my wedding, still wearing the dress you wore to my wedding. The wedding that we invited you to because we trusted you. We thought you were one of us. But it’s clear who you are.” Dark glared at Viana as he spoke. “ _ You’re fucking nothing _ .” He spat, voice doubling.  

“Isaac-”

“Don’t you dare call me that,” Dark growled.

“Don’t take her, please, don’t take her!” Anti begged. “Please! Please!” 

“I’m sorry...the mother wants her child back,” Viana said softly before she and the men walked out of the house, shutting the door behind them. 

“No! No! Please! Please!” Anti cried, falling to his knees. “Please! Don’t take her! Don’t take her! Please...please...please…” Anti’s cries slowly turned into sobs. “Please.” He croaked out, clinging to Dark while the other man held him. “Ann...Ann…” Anti started glitching, Dark being the only thing that was keeping him together. 

“I’ll get her back,” Dark whispered, rubbing his hand against Anti’s back. His shell had cracked, his aura was mostly red as it surrounded the two. “ _ I will get her back _ .” 


	8. In Session

Dark sat at the edge of his bed, gently running his hand through Anti’s hair. Anti was still curled up in the blankets, staring at the clock sitting on the bedside table. 

“I’d be making breakfast for her right now,” Anti said softly. 

“I know,” Dark said, rubbing his thumb against Anti’s temple. 

“I was gonna make pancakes...I was gonna put some apple slices on Ann’s.” Anti sniffed. “She loves apples.” He added, body shaking a little as he began to cry again. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” 

“None of this is your fault.” Dark slid his hand down so he was now rubbing Anti’s shoulder. 

“I’m the one who wanted Ann. I’m the one who convinced you to let her into our home. It’s my fault that she’s going back to live the same woman who fucking tied her to a door and left her there!” Anti sat up, tears streaming down his face. “How the fuck are they letting her go back to that woman!?” 

“I’m working on it. I’m taking the legal route first to see if this can be done swiftly with the law on our side.”

“Fuck the law,” Anti growled. “The law is what took her away.” 

“That’s why we have the egos.” Dark chuckled, nodding his head when there was a knock. 

“We ‘found’ their names,” Wilford said with a smirk as he handed Dark a folder. 

“Wait, ’we’?” Anti threw the blanket off of himself and got out of bed, not bothering to put a shirt on, or pants. 

“She was malnourished when she was brought into their home.” Dr. Iplier stated while Bim was writing everything down into a notebook. 

“She looked as if to not have slept in days as well.” Dr. Schneeplestein added. 

“What…” Anti’s eyes were wide with shock. Their dining table had been moved into the living room, papers were scattered all over it and all of the egos were gathered around it.

“Waffle?” Chase offered, holding out a prepared plate towards Anti. Anti took the plate in stunned silence, looking over his shoulder when he felt a hand on it. 

“I’m getting her back,” Dark said. “I know how badly you just want to attack the woman who caused this. But I plan on taking Annalise away from her like she did to us. I want her to suffer like we did and she’s going to  _ pay _ .” 

“That’s so fucking hot,” Anti said under his breath as Dark went to join the egos. 

“I’m assuming you're going to represent yourself?” Google asked, a screen projecting on the table they sat at. 

“No lawyer can do what I can,” Dark stated, straightening his tie and going to the head of the table. 

“You gonna put pants on, bro?” Bing asked Anti. The virus tilted his head and looked down at himself.

“What-oh!” Anti quickly went back into the bedroom. 

“Jolene Barbetti...how fitting,” Dark growled after opening the file. “Tell me everything.” 

“She is twenty-one years old,” Google stated. “She gave birth to Annalise right after turning eighteen. She chose to keep the child against her parent’s wishes since her, at the time boyfriend, Alexander Richards, wanted to keep her.” 

“Alexander is twenty-three. He’s a construction worker.” Bing leaned over Google’s shoulder to read what was on the screen. “He moved on to marry a woman named Kathy Harrington shortly after Annalise was born.” 

“Alexander has said on record that Jolene is ‘a manipulative person who believes that she has never done wrong’.” Chase read from a piece of holographic paper. 

“She’s about to meet the best manipulator ever.” Marvin chuckled and held up a wand. “And witness the greatest vanishing act ever.” 

“Fill me in, what the hell is happening?” Anti asked when he came back into the room, sitting in the empty chair next to Dark and placing the plate of waffles in front of him.

“Viana called this morning and said there’s still a chance for us to get Annalise back,” Dark said, sliding the folder towards Anti so he could read while he ate. “Since Jolene technically abandoned her child, we can fight for custody since we were signed under temporary guardianship.”

“Temporary?” Anti said through a mouthful of waffle. 

“We need to wait six months before the final form was filled and stating that Jolene fully gave up ownership of Annalise,” Dark explained. 

“Adoptions are very complicated,” Google stated. 

“They are only complicated when a bitch gets in the way.” Chase huffed. 

“I still say we go in there and give her a few shots to the gut. That oughta tell her.” Wilford chuckled, pulling out his favorite revolver. 

“We are not resorting to violence...yet.” Dark winked at Anti when he said the last word. “Our court date is in a week, we have a lot of work to do.” 

_ x~x~x _

Anti had a violent urge to vomit as everyone sat back down when the judge said they could. It took everything in his being to not lunge himself at Jolene and tear her apart with his bare hands. It also was almost impossible to not hug Annalise, who he knew was sitting in a room right next to them. Anti just wanted to get his little girl and leave. He just wanted to go home with his family. 

“My client made a mistake. She’s human, it happens to the best of us.” Jolene’s lawyer stated. “She has atoned her actions and is more than fitting to care for  _ her  _ child.” The lawyer looked at Anti and Dark as he sat down. 

“Jolene Barbetti is nowhere near fit to take care of  _ our  _ child.” Dark shot the lawyer the same look. “When Annalise was abandoned at our home. She was tied to our screen door with a rope. Annalise wasn’t simply let there, she was tied up as if she was a dog that was no longer wanted. Annalise is no dog. She is a smart and beautiful little girl that deserves to be happy and healthy.” Dark sat back down, holding his head up and knowing that he won that part by the look of sympathy on the judge’s face. 

“Jolene Barbetti, you may take the stand.”

“Yes, sir.” Jolene bowed a little before walking, sitting down and forcing a perfect posture. 

“You may present the evidence.” The judge stated as he began pulling out papers. 

“As you can see, we have medical records stating that Annalise was twenty pounds underweight when she came into our care. She is now of healthy weight because of what me and my partner have done.” Dark stood with his hands behind his back. 

“Care to explain, Mrs. Barbetti?” The judge asked.

“This economy is terrible. I’ve been working myself to the bone to barely make enough to have a roof over our head.” Jolene said, her tone beating out false sorrow. 

“All I hear are excuses, your honor,” Dark said. “I would like to ask how Jolene’s medical records state that she is over the average weight of a woman her age and size while her daughter was in danger of starvation.” 

“Are you calling me fat?” Jolene gasped, putting a hand on her chest. 

“You clearly are not fat and I made no such statement. I am only going by the numbers.” Dark didn’t even flinch while Jolene looked at her lawyer and she sniffed loudly when he nodded his head.

“Your numbers don’t tell the story of everything I’ve been through!” Jolene shouted. “Your numbers don’t tell the story of the nights I went to bed sobbing because my baby was hungry and there was nothing I could do for her. Your numbers-”

“What’s Ann’s favorite color!?” Anti screamed, slamming his hands on the desk as he stood. 

“Uh…blue…” Jolene answered, her voice clearly saying that she was lying. 

“Orange. She loves orange. Orange makes her think of happiness.” Anti said. “What’s her favorite animal?” Jolene didn’t even open her mouth.

“Your honor, Mr. Frost is not-”

“Cats! It’s cats! And my name is Mr. Powell.” Anti glared harshly at the lawyer. “My wedding was last week when your ‘client’ decided that she  _ so  _ needed a child that she knows nothing about!”

“You honor!” 

“I’ll allow it.” The judge stated, unseen to everyone that there was a red fog covering his head. Dark was now sitting in his chair, eyes blacked-out and staring straight ahead.  

“What’s her favorite holiday? Halloween. Who’s her favorite character on  _ Sesame Street _ ? The Cookie Monster. She loves butterflies and ladybugs and bubbles and you have no right to take my daughter away from me!” Anti was crying at this point, tears falling on to the wooden surface of the desk. 

“I...what the fuck!?” Jolene screeched. “His eyes are black! They’re black!” She pointed at Dark as she well. Dark blinked and his eyes were back to how they were before. 

“My eyes are simply a very dark brown,” Dark stated, his hands shaking a little under the table as he struggled to keep together after using so much energy. 

“My head.” The judge groaned. He started to rub at his temple. “We’ll finish this session tomorrow.”

“Your honor, if I may interrupt. I think we can clearly see that Annalise-”

“You’re a monster! You’re a demon or something from hell!” Jolene went back to her yelling. “He’s possessed! How can a creature take care of a child!?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Dark growled, the room going silent for only a moment. 

“I knew there was something wrong with you! The moment I was told that my daughter was taken in my two men, I knew something was wrong!” Jolene stood as she shouted. 

“Mrs. Barbetti, that’s enough!” The judge snapped. “Them being in a relationship has nothing to do with this case! I suggest you get your client out of here now before she says anything else that would change my favor.” He added to Jolene’s lawyer. 

“Yes, your honor. Let’s-”

“Daddy! I want Daddy!” Annalise’s cries could be heard through the door. “I hate mommy! I hate! I hate!” 

“I’ll be seeing everyone tomorrow.” The judge banged his gavel before leaving his stand. 

“You’re not going to get her back. I need her.” Jolene said as she passed by, already recovered from her hysterics. 

“Don’t be too sure of yourself,” Dark stated.

“I would suggest dropping this case now if you know what’s best for you,” Jolene warned. 

“We are the worst people to threaten.” Anti stepped up to Jolene. “We will become your worst nightmare if you keep this up. You won’t just lose Annalise. You’ll lose everything.”

“Jolene, we need to leave now.” The lawyer took Jolene’s arm and lead her out of the room. 

“We’re alone,” Dark said as he held Anti’s hand. Anti could feel it trembling in his grip and he quickly teleported them out of the room. 

“Fuck!” Dark groaned when they appeared in their living room, the color of his skin shattered away and his aura exploded out of his back. “I need to work on that more.” He said as he panted. Dark turned his head and saw that Anti was pacing and glitching. “Anti, everything is going to be fine.” 

“She threatened us.  _ Us _ ! Does she know who we are!? We make people disappear for a living! I fucking cut them open as if they were a fucking roast and laugh while doing it!” Anti’s eyes began to glow. “I’ll slowly cut off every single part of her body off and make sure she lives through all of it!” 

“Anti…” Dark wrapped his arms around his husband, burying his face into the crook of his neck. “We’re going to win this. The judge would have to be crazy to allow Annalise to go back to her. I have everything written down, I have evidence to back up all of the allegations. Your forged recordings and my documents will ensure that Annalise will be back home with us soon.” 

“I’ll kill her…”

“Later.” Dark lifted his head and started to rub Anti’s shoulders. “First, we break her.” Dark kissed Anti’s cheek. “We’ll lure her into a false sense of peace.” A kiss to the jaw. “She’ll think that she’s safe and sound.” A kiss to the neck. “Then we’ll come in.” Dark’s hands slide down Anti’s arm as he kissed his neck again. “We’ll destroy everything.” Anti took in a shaky breath as Dark’s hands slipped under the end of his shirt, untucking it and his tongue went across the bottom of his neck. “Her finances will vanish. Her friends will hate her. Her own mother won’t even look at her.” Dark’s hands began moving up, taking the shirt with it. His voice was a low whisper, his breath hot against Anti’s ear. “She'll hate everything in her life. She’ll hate herself.” 

“D-Dark.” Anti groaned as one of the hands stayed up and the other slowly traveled down his stomach, his fingers barely grazing the skin. 

“She’ll want to die. She’ll fight it at first. She’ll try to think of things that will keep her here and she’ll realize that it’s all gone. We took all of it away.” Anti leaned back into Dark as a thumb tucked itself into the top of his pants. Anti tilted his head back and his chest heaved as he breathed heavily. “When she’s finally ready to cave, we won’t even allow her the grace of ending it herself.” Dark grinned before giving Anti a kiss. 

“Dark!” Wilford shouted as he threw open the door, not even blinking twice at the scene he saw. “You need to know something!” He kept shouting as he waved a piece of paper. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Dark lowered Anti’s shirt and moved to let the other man could go behind him and make sure he was put together.

“It’s Alexander!” 

“What about Alexander? He wasn’t at the trial, he clearly doesn’t care-”

“He’s the head judge!” Wilford interrupted, holding the page out. 

“What!?” Dark took the paper and started reading it. 

“Host kept saying that the trail wasn’t going to end well and we could not figure out what he meant. Google did some digging and found this.” Wilford explained. Anti scratched his head before speaking. 

“What does Alexander being a head judge have to do with us? He left Jolene, he doesn’t…” Dark, Anti and Wilford all stared at Dark’s jacket when it began to ring. Dark gave Anti the paper and answered his phone, turning away from the other men. 

“Viana, why are you crying?” Wilford and Anti shared a concerned look. “What!? How!? The judge said we had another session tomorrow!” Dark’s foot was tapping against the ground as he aura slowly grew. “That can’t be legal! Fuck what he says!” Dark suddenly stiffened. “Alright...fine...let her have her way.” 

“Dark…” Anti watched as Dark started to shake. Both Anti and Wilford took a step back when Dark let out a yell as he threw his phone against the wall, shattering it. 

“We lost!” Dark screamed. “We fucking lost!” 

“How!? We still-”

“Alexander Richards,”Dark growled. “He took over the case and placed a ruling immediately, dismissing all evidence as faulty and granting Jolene full custody!” The three stood in silence, the only sound was Dark breathing through his teeth. He finally took a deep breath before slowly turning around, a very large grin on his face. “We’re going to get her back.” 

“Is it my turn?” Anti asked with a chuckle. 

“Fuck the law.” 


	9. Broken Hardware

“I want daddy! I want papa!” Annalise screamed as she was carried into Jolene’s house. 

“Quit hitting me!” Jolene snapped and dropped Annalise on the couch. “They are not your dads! They’re just a bunch of freaks!” Annalise crawled away from her mother, sitting at the other end of the couch. 

“They love me. You don’t.” Annalise stated. 

“You’ll forget about them the moment I...seriously, the battery’s dead again?” Jolene huffed when she tried to turn on the television with a remote. “Why is it that every time you’re near something it stops working!?” Jolene snapped, throwing the controller against the couch. Annalise said nothing and curled up. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Jolene went over to Annalise. 

“Fuck you.” Annalise said, eyes filled with defiance. They quickly filled with tears when Jolene slapped her across the face. 

“You do not-” Jolene screamed when a gun went off and a bullet went through the wall next to her head.

“You do not hit children.” Wilford stated as he blew smoke out of the barrel of his gun. 

“I’m calling the police!” Jolene took out her phone and whimpered. “Dead…” 

“Stache!” Annalise cheered, jumping off of the couch and running over to the madman. 

“Annalise!” Jolene tried to grab Annalise’s arm, but Wilford put a hand on her face and shoved her to the ground. 

“I would love to fill your body with bullets.” Wilford said as he scooped Annalise up into his arm. “But my friends want to have a word with you.” He chuckled before stepping out. 

“Get back here!” Jolene started to get up, but her television suddenly turning on scared her. The screen was a green static, the pieces slowly moving and forming into a hand. 

“ _ One, two, I’m coming for you _ .” A voice sang, the pitches changing as the words came out. “ _ Three, four, you have peace no more. _ ” Jolene stumbled back as the hand pushed through the screen, a clunky green ooze squeezing out with it. “ _ Five, six, I’m not playing tricks. _ ” Another hand started to come out as well. “ _ Seven, eight, today’s the date _ .” A head pushed through, the face looking down and only allowing Jolene to see the hair. “ _ Nine, ten…”  _ The head shot up, bright green eyes digging holes into Jolene’s soul. “ _ You’ll pray to be dead!”  _ Anti started laughing, his voice coming from all angles of the house. Surround sound, who knew it’d come back to haunt you?

“I knew it, I fucking knew it.” Jolene whispered as Anti pulled himself out all the way. The ooze, which turned out to be a bunch of pixels, traveled up Anti’s legs and wrapped their way down his arms. “I’m-” Jolene’s threat was cut off by Anti flicking hand hands towards her. Two clumps of the pixels shot out and grabbed Jolene’s wrists, holding them together as if they were handcuffs. Two more clumps got her ankles, making Jolene fall to her knees. 

“This looks familiar.” Anti sneered, the pixels traveling across his hand and forming a knife. “Oh yes, this is what I looked like when you took  _ my  _ daughter away.” Anti put his foot on Jolene’s chest and kicked her back, pressing it down as he stood over her. “Expect I was fucking crying my eyes out cause some fucking bitch decided that she wanted to be a mother again.” Anti pressed down even harder. “I was begging, pleading, fucking praying that it was all some sick joke as my child was ripped from my arms by complete strangers.” Jolene just groaned in pain as Anti spoke. Anti grabbed Jolene by the front of her shirt and yanked her to her feet. “Let me tell you something about parenthood.” Anti slammed Jolene into a wall, smirking when he heard a light cracking and the woman gasped. “You can’t go back and forth. You can’t be one only when it’s convenient for you. And even when you do choose to be one, you’re fucking shit at it.” 

“You’re insane.” Jolene spat. 

“Why, thank you.” Anti giggled, now holding the knife against the woman’s throat. “Let me ask you a few more questions. Why is Annalise so scared of the bathroom? Why was her entire body covered in bruises? Why is she scared of the police?” Jolene said nothing and was limiting her breathing, knowing that neck would get cut if she breathed too deeply. “You fucking hurt her. Didn’t you? You hurt an innocent child? Why? How fucking pathetic do you have to be to do that?” Anti ran the knife along Jolene’s neck, smirking a thin line of blood formed as he moved. He began laughing as a high-pitched ringing filled the air. The tone getting louder and louder as everything began to feel as if it was shaking. 

“Now, now. We don’t want her dead, dear.” Jolene was still trembling as Dark appeared in the house, calmly strolling over to the two. “She’s just a single mother who wanted her baby back, am I right?” Dark gave a very sympathetic smile as Anti stepped back, giggling a little as he allowed Dark to go between him and Jolene. “It must be so hard, taking care of a child on your own.”

“Y-Yeah…” Jolene felt the ringing slowly go from being around her to inside of her, but she didn’t care, something was making it fine. 

“The man of your dreams ran off with another woman. He left you with a child to raise. He left you behind.” Dark placed a gentle hand on Jolene’s shoulder, a rush filling him when he saw a light blush creep on Jolene’s cheeks. “You feel good, correct?” Dark started to massage Jolene’s shoulder. “You feel protected, warm, safe.” Jolene nodded her head, her breathing deepening. Dark smirk before suddenly taking his hand back and striking Jolene across the face. He then took her by the throat and threw her across the room. “It hurts, doesn’t it?” Dark spoke harshly as he stalked towards Jolene, who was struggling to get away. “To feel as if someone, someone close actually cares for you. That they want the best for you. That you’re safe with them and then for them to hurt you and toss you aside like your nothing…” Dark grabbed Jolene’s ankle and yanked her towards him, putting her between his legs while he glared down at her. “Helpless. Helpless against the one causing you pain. It’s terrifying, isn’t it? To look up at someone who could kill you with a simple flick of their wrist.” Dark snapped his finger and Jolene screamed when there were hands on her ankles again and she was dragged away. 

“Viana’s the one who’s to blame!” Jolene yelled as she was thrown into a chair. 

“How’s that?” Dark asked as Anti used his pixels to tie Jolene to the chair. 

“She’s the one who came into your home. She’s the one who ordered Annalise’s removal.” Jolene tried to struggle against her restraints. 

“Viana’s not a bitch like you.” Anti growled. 

“She called us and explained everything. How you demanded to be given your child right then and there. You threatened her job. The job she needs to feed her child.” Dark took a seat, crossing his legs and smirking as he spoke. “Viana’s in the same boat as you, her husband left her as well and left little Kenzie with her. Kenzie’s a sweet little girl, the same age as Annalise, actually. They’ve been on a few play-dates and unlike you. Viana’s a great mother.” Jolene flinched when she saw a knife in the corner of her eyes. 

“Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t cut you open and decorate your house with your organs.” Anti said, touching the tip of the knife on Jolene’s cheek. “I’m very creative. I’d love to make this house even more of a hellhole by using the parts of the one who made it into a nightmare for a little girl.” 

“Don’t hold back, I’ll be sure to put everything back together and make it look like a suicide.” Dark pulled out a folded sheet of paper out of his jacket. “I even have the note here and signed.”

“W-Wait.” Jolene stuttered as the knife traveled down her face. “Please…” Anti threw the knife aside and grabbed Jolene, pulling her close.

“Your fucking begging. You’re fucking begging for your life.” Anti said through gritted teeth as the pixels started to squeeze Jolene. “You don’t want your life taken away. I didn’t want my daughter taken away.” Jolene gasped for air as her very soul was being sucked out of her body. Her vision was beginning to blur. She was in agony. “You fucked up when you messed with demons.” Jolene started to cry when everything was forcefully shoved back into her as she was released. 

“Fuck...fuck…” She sobbed. “Take her, just take her.” 

“What was that?” Dark chuckled from his seat. 

“Just take her!” Jolene screamed. “I just wanted her for money! Take her! Take-” Jolene was stopped by Anti punching her. She didn’t even get a moment to breathe before Anti punched her again. 

“You’re. Fucking. Pathetic!” Anti cried as he kept going, each swing getting more and more sporadic as he lost control. He was still screaming insults as Dark wrapped his arms around him, hugging the virus’ arms to his sides. 

“Hush, hush, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Dark whispered. 

“Daddy!” Annalise squealed as she ran into the room. 

“Ann!” Anti ran as well and lifted Annalise up, hugging her tightly. “My little girl!” 

“Papa!” Annalise held her arms out towards Dark and the demon took her, hugging her as well. 

“I’m guessing she’s yours again?” Wilford chuckled as he walked. “I-” Wilford made a face and pointed behind Dark and Anti. 

“You’re monsters.” Jolene stated, aiming a gun towards them and blood dripping down her face. “Annalise is going to end up getting killed because of you. You’re a bunch of heartless creatures.” 

“You wanna have a gun-off?” Wilford laughed, taking out his own gun. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who hides firearms in their home.” 

“No...no…” Annalise said as Dark sat her behind him. 

“Stay here.” Dark said. “Do you really think a gun-” 

“No!” Annalise pushed her way past Dark. 

“Annalise!” 

“No! No! No! No!” Annalise screamed, her body twitching. 

“Wait, she’s…” Dark looked at Anti.

“She’s glitching.” Anti watched as pixels began forming in the air. 

“Stop! Stop or I’ll shoot!” Jolene threatened, pointing the gun at Anti. 

“It’s not me.” Anti stated as the pixels began to gather. 

“And I don’t use pixels.” Dark added. 

“I have a gun.” Wilford shrugged.

“I don’t like! I don’t!” Annalise cried, the pixels becoming a large butterfly. “Go away!” She screamed as the butterfly flew at Jolene. 

“What the fuck!?” Jolene fired several rounds into the butterfly before she was engulfed by it. There was stunned silence as the butterfly faded away, Jolene now gone. 

“Mommy time-out.” Annalise stated, sniffing as tears flooded down her face. 

“So...was there something you didn’t tell us Anti?” Wilford asked while Dark scooped Annalise up, trying to soothe her. 

“I...I have no idea.” Anti admitted. “I swear I thought she was human.”

“Is this why my phone dies every time I’m at your place?” Wiford took out his phone, seeing that it was indeed dead. “Rude.” 

“Dark’s has been dying a lot too, we thought we just needed to get him a new phone.” Anti took his out when it started to ring. “Hey, Google.” He said when he answered it. Anti nodded his head and put the phone on speaker. 

“I’ve found a solution to your case. Alexander is the father of Annalise which means there’s a conflict of interest and his ruling cannot stand.” Google said. 

“We don’t need to worry about Jolene. She’s kind of...gone.” Anti said. 

“You two could not wait ten minutes!? Dark should have known this before I looked it up!” Google snapped.

“It didn’t register until we were already on our way over.” Dark shrugged. 

“So, you killed her?” Google said the question like a statement. 

“Not us.” Dark said. 

“Wilford?” 

“Not me.” Wilford chuckled.

“Then who did it?” Google sighed. 

“Annalise.” Dark answered. Google said nothing, telling them that he was stunned. 

“How?” Google asked.

“She’s like me.” Anti said. “She’s a virus.” 


	10. Finally Merry

Dark and Anti both sat on their couch while Annalise was on the floor, playing with a Barbie and a toy car. She was happily giggling as she sat the doll on the car and rolled it around. She had a pair of earphones on so she wouldn’t be able to hear Dark and Anti talk. 

“Anti, is she…” Dark let the question hang in the air. 

“She can’t be mine. She’s three, I’ve been with you for four years.” Anti stated.

“The beginning of our relationship was a little rocky. If you-”

“She’s not mine.” Anti placed a hand on Dark’s leg. “I swear to you that I have not been with any other person since we first got together.” 

“Then, how?” Dark asked. “I thought you said virus’ take over a body, use their form and detach into their own beings?” 

“We do. That’s how I’m here. We’re made when there’s a fracture in the universe and we get absorbed into an electrical current.” Anti stated.

“By the sounds of it, Annalise has been with Jolene her whole life. That...what?” Dark rubbed his temple, very confused and hating that he didn’t have an answer. 

“The only way that’s possible is if when Annalise was coming through the device, she took the form of the fetus inside of Jolene.” Anti stated. “She would become the fetus like how I became a full-grown man when I used Jack’s form.” 

“Annalise doesn’t have any siblings. What happened to the one she based herself off of?” 

“They must have died. It takes a lot to use someone’s body to make your own. I had to slit Jack’s throat in order to free myself. Ann must have killed...Annalise.” Anti plopped back, covering his face with his hands. “My daughter was a murderer before she was even fully processed.” 

“She clearly didn’t do it on purpose, but still.” Dark took a deep breath. “It’s a good thing we have her, others wouldn’t know what to do.” 

“She killed her own mother...she killed her and doesn’t know that she killed her.” Anti groaned. “She thinks mommy’s in time-out.” Anti started to laugh in disbelief. “What are we going to do when she learns that’s not true? How do we tell her that she killed her own mother? How-” Anti stopped when Dark was suddenly straddling him. 

“She’s three, she has no idea what’s going on. What she needs to worry about is learning new words and colors and animals.” Dark took Anti’s hands and put them on his hips while his went to Anti’s shoulders. “Annalise is now calmed down, she’s no longer glitching and the pixels are gone. I’m going to make a few phone calls and then we can finally call it a day.” Dark moved his hands so he was holding Anti’s face. “We got her back.” He whispered before pulling Anti into a kiss. 

“I still wanted to be the one to end her.” Anti slightly pouted when they parted. 

“We’ll kill someone else later.” Dark said with a wink.

“We are fucked up.” Anti chuckled.

“And I wouldn’t want us any other way.” Dark gave Anti another quick kiss before getting up. “I shouldn’t be long.” He added before going into his office. 

“Papa?” Annalise asked as she awkwardly removed the earphones, getting her hands tangled up. 

“Papa’s talking to a few people and then he’ll be right out.” Anti explained as he joined Annalise on the ground, helping her get out of the mess she made. “We’ll have a nice dinner and then I’ll read you a bedtime story, how does that sound?” 

“Train that could?” Annalise asked as she watched her hands be freed. 

“Of course.” Anti wrapped the earphones into a ball and set them aside, he looked over at the office door and let out a sigh. “Ann?” 

“Yeah?” Anti felt his heart warm up a little when Annalise looked at him with wide eyes, tilting her head and showing that she was ready. 

“Do you know what happened today?” Annalise rocked her head around a little. 

“Mommy was mean.” Annalise said, nodding her head before continuing. “Mommy in time-out.”

“Are you able to take mommy out of time-out?” Anti chewed his lip when Annalise shook her head. 

“Forever time-out.” Annalise explained. “Mommy really bad.” 

“Yeah, mommy really bad.” Anti repeated with a sigh. “I love you, Ann.” 

“Love you, Daddy.” Annalise smiled. 

_ x~x~x _

“So if Annie’s a virus like you, does that mean there’s more of ya.” Wilford asked after a long sip of his eggnog. 

“There’s probably a shit ton of virus’ and we don’t know them.” Anti shrugged, his sweater jingling as he did. 

“Is that why there’s so many people that have doubles on the other side of the world?” Chase asked. 

“I want a glitchy clone.” Bim chuckled. 

“One Bim Trimmer is enough for this universe.” Dark lightly teased, giving the show host a pat on the shoulder. 

“You two should have adopted years ago, Dark is less of a stiff because of Annie.” Wilford joked. 

“Look, Jim, it’s the offspring.” Reporter Jim said as Cameraman Jim got a better view of Annalise. 

“Tim!” Annalise cheered, clapping her hands. 

“No, I’m Jim and this is Jim.” Reporter Jim corrected, getting a giggle from Annalise.

“Kim!” 

“No, I’m Jim and this is Jim.” Reporter Jim corrected again. 

“Bim!” 

“No, that’s Bim.” The show host turned his head when he heard his name. “I’m Jim and this is Jim.” 

“Mim!”

“Now, is that even a name?” The Jims looked at Anti when he started laughing. 

“Ann, quit teasing the Jims.” Anti chuckled as he scooped Annalise up. 

“Teasing? She’s not teasing. She’s clearly trying to avoid the questions. We’ll get the answers from her.” Reporter Jim held the microphone in front of Annalise’s face while Cameraman Jim got closer as well. “Tell us. Are you the offspring?” 

“Are you suggesting that my child is the offspring that Host has been talking about?” Dark said, his voice harsh. 

“Jim, it’s the demon!” The Jim twins both yelped and ran off, heading straight for dining table which had an endless supply of treats. 

“Don’t you just love Christmas?” Anti chuckled. 

“Merry Chrysler!” Annalise shouted happily, giggling as Dark glared at Anti. 

“Where did she learn that?” Dark asked in a growl. 

“Time for presents!” Anti announced. 

“Anti!” 

“Presents!” The Jim twins and Annalise cheered. 

“The married couple have to open mine first!” Wilford stated as he grabbed three boxes while everyone sat down around the living room. “Here you go.” The madman had a large smile as he handed Anti and Dark a box each. 

“It’s squishy.” Anti commented, tearing off the wrapping paper. “Yes!” Anti started laughing as he held up the t-shirt, an image of Dark glaring up was on it. “I love it!” 

“You have to be kidding me.” Dark sighed as he held up his shirt, Anti’s face with a black bar across his eyes was printed on it. 

“How could I not? All couples have cute shirt of their significant other.” Wilford chuckled, watching as Annalise opened her present. 

“Shooty!” Reporter Jim shouted when Annalise pulled out a bright pink gun. 

“Wilford!” Dark reached to take the gun, but Annalise already pulled the trigger, a large stream of bubbles came out of the barrel and the little girl laughed happily as it did. 

“She’ll work her way up to the real thing.” Wilford said with a nod. 

“You alright there?” Anti asked Dark, who was groaning. 

“My husband is obsessed with knives, my best friend is obsessed with guns and I have a small child, I’m doing great.” Dark huffed. 

“Love you.” Anti sang while the others began opening their gifts. 

“How did you know?” Wilford said as he held up a brand new bowtie, a grinning Bim next to him. 

“Dope!” Bing and Chase both shouted as the machine put on sunglasses and the ‘bro’ put on a hat. The two high-fived each other and laughed. 

“Oh!” Dr. Schneeplestein said in awe, pulling out several new scalpels. 

“We have the same mind.” Dr. Iplier chuckled as he took out the same scalpels. 

“I gift!” Annalise announced, standing in the center of the group. 

“What did you make, Annalise?” Dark asked. Everyone was waiting for a piece of paper to be pulled out or something like that. 

“I make daddy and papa.” Annalise closed her hands and opened them back up, holographic images of Anti and Dark appeared on her palms. The group went into a stunned silence. 

“Did you show her how to do that?” Dark finally asked.

“I have not.” Anti softly shook his head. 

“You like?” Annalise smiled. 

“Yes, yes, of course!” Anti held his hands and Annalise handed him the image. “I think it’s time for our little princess to go to bed, it’s getting late.” 

“But, daddy!” Annalise protested as she was scooped up. 

“Goodnight, Annie.” Wilford said with a wave. 

“Night-night, Stache.” Annalise waved back.

“Your child is such a doll.” Wilford chuckled when Annalise and Anti were gone. 

“She’s also a virus.” Marvin stated.

“She’s still a child, that doesn’t mean anything.” Dark said. 

“Are all virus’ the same? Do they all have murderous tendencies like your husband?” Google asked. “I have no databases to look into for that.” 

“What are you implying?” Dark asked. 

“Would you allow your child to go into your field of work if she ends up like you guys?” Chase asked. 

“Alright guys, I still have to give Dark my present and I’m pretty sure none of you want to see it.” Anti chuckled as he walked back in, preventing Dark from answering the question.

“Is it some kind of ritual?” Reporter Jim asked as Cameraman Jim aimed his camera at Anti. Anti smirked and leaned over, making sure his face was close to the camera. 

“Yes, the ritual of me sucking Dark’s dick while he’s tied up to the bed.” The Jims looked at him with confusion while the other egos started saying random excuses for why they needed to leave. The twins were still confused as Wilford urged them to their feet and towards the front door. 

“You two have your fun. We’ll see you for the new year.” Wilford said while ushering the stragglers. 

“Papa!” Annalise giggled as she ran out of her bedroom and into Dark’s arms. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” Dark asked with a chuckle. 

“An offspring will cause pain to us all.” Host said quietly as Wilford shut the door. 


	11. Closet Man

“Ann! Ann get back here!” Anti called as he chased after the little girl, winter coat in his hands. 

“Never!” Annalise giggled, glitching away from Anti when he got close. 

“Oh, we’re playing that game.” Anti chuckled before glitching as well. 

“Glitch!” Annalise said before glitching again. 

“Just put your jacket on!” Anti huffed. The two ended up glitching all around the house, landing in the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the library. They glitched everywhere but the office and basement since Annalise knew she wasn’t allowed there. 

“What are you two doing?” Dark asked when Anti and Annalise ended up in the living room, green and orange pixels falling from the sky like snowflakes. “The bus is going to be here any second now.” 

“I’m trying to put Ann’s jacket on, but somebody doesn’t want it.” Anti gave Annalise a playful glare. 

“Annalise. Jacket. Now.” Dark ordered in a soft tone. 

“Okay, papa.” Annalise said, taking the jacket from Anti and slipping it on. 

“Now, that’s just rude.” Anti pouted, sitting down on the ground. 

“You know that you’re not supposed to be glitching unless it’s an emergency, right?” Dark said to Annalise. 

“Yes, papa.” Annalise nodded.

“Why does she listen to you in the morning?” Anti was still pouting.

“We’re just doing good cop, bad cop. Sometimes bad cop wins.” Dark chuckled as he held out his hand, helping Anti to his feet. 

“Bus here, bus here!” Annalise cheered as she looked out the screen door. 

“We’re coming.” Anti said as he and Dark took Annalise’s hand and lead her out of the house. 

“Hello, Mr. and Mr. Powell.” The bus worker greeted the two men after they reached the bus. 

“Morning, Pam.” Dark watched as Annalise climbed up the bus steps. 

“Hey, Pammy.” Anti noticed that the worker was giving him a strange look. “Something wrong?”

“Your eyes are green.” Pam said. 

“I…”

“You left your colored contacts in again. I told you that you need to make sure they’re out when we leave the house, it’s great for advertisements on the TV, but outside of that it looks weird.” Dark chuckled, giving Anti a pat on the back. 

“Oh, my bad.” Anti’s laugh was a little forced. 

“Bye, daddy! Bye, papa!” Annalise yelled from her seat, waving. 

“Bye, Annalise.” Dark said while Anti waved both arms, making the girl giggle. 

“We’ll see you later.” Pam said before going to her seat and the bus leaving. 

“You left your eyes green?” Dark sighed the moment the bus was gone. 

“We were glitching a lot.” Anti protested. 

“Annalise’s eyes didn’t go orange.” Dark said as the two of them headed back into the house. 

“Did they?” Anti and Dark both stopped at Anti’s question. 

“I didn’t check.” Dark said with fear in his voice.

“Shit! How do we explain orange eyes on our child? She doesn’t wear colored contacts, she can’t, she’s three!” 

“There has to be a way to check.” Dark started running his hands through his hair. “The camera!” 

“The camera?” Anti paused. “The camera!” Dark didn’t get to say more before Anti was gone. 

Anti hated the feeling of being inside of older technology, everything just felt wrong. The currents weren’t as strong and it made him feel as if he wasn’t whole. He slowly moved the camera’s angle and saw that Annalise had fallen asleep in her seat. They’ve only been gone for a minute, how was she already out? How could she be out? Anti didn’t have to hear to know that the other children were screaming. Anti wished that the recording wasn’t in black and white, but hopefully, he’d be able to tell the difference between bright orange eyes and dark blue ones. Anti placed his hand on the small lens and sent out a soft spark, waking Annalise up. The little girl perked up and looked at the camera, knowing that her daddy was in there. Anti saw her mouth move and she pointed at the camera, her iris’ looking dark. Anti let out a silent sigh before leaving. 

“Everything good?” Dark asked when Anti arrived in the office. 

“She’s fine, but I hate those cameras.” Anti said, brushing off gray pixels that had lingered. “Now there’s going to be black spots because someone can’t upgrade a fucking camera.” 

“We need to make sure Annalise isn’t glitching so much. She doesn’t know how to conceal her looks like we do.” Dark said. 

“Annalise was asleep.” Anti said, ignoring Dark’s comment and sitting on the desk. 

“And? What’s wrong with that?” Dark asked, holding a paper up to read it. 

“I mean, she was out. It wasn’t just her dozing off. She was completely under like she hasn’t slept in days.” Anti said. 

“Maybe she didn’t sleep well last night, it happens. We all have those nights.” Dark shrugged, not looking at his husband.  

“Dark, you know what I’m like when I haven’t charged in a while.” 

“Yes, you get moody, you can’t control your pixels or glitching, you hallucinate, and you randomly...pass out.” Dark lowered the paper. 

“I think she needs to charge.” 

“She hasn’t charged in three years, maybe she doesn’t need it.” Dark suggested. 

“She’s been taking energy from electronics instead of actually charging, which can work, but sometimes a proper charge can do so much.” Anti chewed at his lip. “Ann needs to charge. 

“You just said she can take energy from electronics, she doesn’t have to go into the computer like you do.” Dark insisted. 

“Why are you so scared of her going in a computer? I do it all the time.” Anti said.

“You’re a grown man who’s been doing that for years. She’s three.” 

“I’ll go in with her. I won’t let her go into the internet, I’ll keep her out of files, we’ll just have you pull up a movie or something and we can just watch that.” Anti suggested. 

“I don’t know.” Dark sighed. 

“I won’t do it unless either you say I can or it becomes an emergency, but I’d prefer not to wait for an emergency.” Anti stood up and went behind Dark, rubbing his shoulders. 

“Let me at least sleep on it and we’ll discuss it tomorrow.” Dark said, smiling a little when Anti pecked his cheek. 

“I love it when we compromise.” Anti chuckled. 

“Remember when we couldn’t even look at each other without screaming?” Dark turned his chair and caught Anti as he sat in his lap. 

“I still remember those two days.” Anti leaned his head against Dark’s chest.

“You just kicked open the door to the meeting room and walked on in.” Dark started rubbing Anti’s back.

“‘We’re in the middle of a meeting, Antisepticeye’.” Anti said in a lower voice. 

“‘Oh, I’m so scared of the edge-lord’.” Dark said in a teasing tone as he rubbed his nose into Anti’s neck, earning a light chuckle. 

“I still owe Chase for that game controller I fucking destroyed.” Anti laughed. 

“I’ll write him a check.” Dark hummed, giving Anti’s neck a kiss. 

“Fuck you.” Anti said with a smirk.

“Fuck you.” Dark said back before they kissed. 

“If we’re going to reminisce, we could at least do a repeat of our first time. I still have that song.” Anti said. 

“I have no problem giving it to you like that again, but can we skip the song?” Dark asked as he stood, both men adjusting so Anti’s legs were wrapped around Dark’s waist and Dark’s hands were on Anti’s thighs. 

“But we have to make it authentic.” Anti started singing as Dark carried him. “ _ You come around when you find me faceless.”  _

“I’ll fuck you like I love you.” Dark said before closing their bedroom door. 

_ x~x~x _

Anti was curled up against Dark’s chest, both of them sound asleep in their dark and silent home. Everything was peaceful. Everything was calm. 

A scream snapped both of them awake, Anti shouting himself and falling off of the bed.

“Annalise!” Dark and Anti both yelled before teleporting to their daughter’s room. Dark appeared in front of Annalise’s bed while Anti was in the center of the room, knives out and ready. The blinked against the darkness and saw that nothing was there. Anti went and flicked on the light, blinking against the change and seeing Annalise sitting up in her bed and bawling. 

“What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?” Dark asked, kneeling next to the bed. 

“Closet man! Closet man!” Annalise screamed, pointing at her closet. 

“Ann, honey, there’s nothing in your closet.” Anti said as he grabbed the handle to the closet. 

“No! Daddy!” Annalise hid under her blanket when Anti opened the door, showing that clothing and toys were the only things in there. 

“See? Everything’s fine.” Dark said. “You were just seeing things.” 

“But...closet man.” Annalise rubbed her eyes and looked again. “He was there.” 

“Everything’s okay, Annalise. Everything’s fine.” Dark took Annalise’s hands, rubbing his thumbs against the top of them. “Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?” 

“Sleep with daddy and papa?” Annalise asked. 

“Of course.” Dark picked Annalise up. 

“Dark, did you lock Ann’s door?” Anti asked when he tried to leave the room. 

“I must have accidentally.” Dark shrugged, watching Anti disappear into pixels and opening the door from the other side. 

“Closet man.” Annalise said. 

“There’s no closet man, it’s just the three of us.” Dark said as he walked out with Anti. 

Annalise was the only one to see the blue pixels fall from the top of the closet. 


	12. Charged

“Ann needs to charge,” Anti stated as he walked into Dark’s office, holding Annalise in his arms. Annalise was looking around with curiosity, trying to find the reason why she wasn’t allowed in there. 

“I-”

“No ands, ifs or buts.” Anti prevented Dark from protesting. “She hallucinated last night and she needs to charge properly.” 

“Most children see the boogeyman in their closet,” Dark said. 

“She would have said ‘monster’ or something like that, she said ‘closet man’, like she saw a person.” Anti sat Annalise on Dark’s desk, took the laptop, turned it to face him and opened it, pressing several keys to log in. 

“How I charge?” Annalise asked. 

“Can’t we just buy her some batteries or something and let her-”

“Dark.” Anti’s face made Dark stop. The virus put his hands on Dark’s shoulders. “I promise that everything will be fine. We’ll stay in the desktop background. Annalise doesn’t know how to surf, she won’t be able to go anywhere.” Dark didn’t respond. “Darky.” Anti sang, lowering his hand to Dark’s thighs and shimming a little. “Darky you know you can trust me. Darky-baby.” 

“You can stop that.” Dark sighed. “Fine. Go charge. But do not leave the desktop background.” 

“Yes, sir.” Anti kissed the tip of Dark’s nose. “Alright, Ann, ready to go on a trip?” 

“Where we go?” Annalise asked. 

“You’ll see.” Anti took Annalise’s hand and pressed his other against the laptop screen. Dark watched as Anti became a cloud of green pixels and Annalise’s were orange. The two went into the laptop and Dark turned the laptop so he could see the screen properly. 

“Hi, papa!” Annalise greeted with a giggle, her voice a little distorted through the speakers. 

“See, told you.” Anti said. “Let’s go swimming.” He said to Annalise before jumping up, floating to the center of the image. Annalise jumped as well and went Anti, giggling as Anti took her hands and they spun around. Dark found himself smiling while his husband and daughter was laughing and spinning around, their bodies glowing of either green or orange. 

“Hey, Dark. Could you open Paint?” Anti asked.

“Of course.” Dark clicked the icon and a small window opened up. Anti held Annalise while he swam to the top of the window, he placed his feet on it before doing a little hop and going in. Dark made the window larger. 

“Wanna finger paint?” Anti asked Annalise as he touched the pencil icon. 

“I make butterfly.” Annalise said and started drawing. 

“This should keep her busy for a while.” Anti sat down in the corner of the window. “I love how relaxing it is to charge.” Anti hummed as he got comfortable. 

“Wilford’s calling.” Dark said and stepped out of the room. 

“No stress, no worries, just energy.” Anti mumbled, his eyes growing heavy. “No…” Anti starting dozing off. Annalise finished her butterfly and something caught the corner of her eye, a blue ladybug flew across the screen and went into the Chrome browser icon. 

“Ladybug.” Annalise walked to the front of the window. She went down to her knees and crawled out, slowly falling to the toolbar. 

“Huh?” Anti jerked up, waking back up. “I’m not asleep.” Anti blinked and saw that Annalise was gone. “Fuck!” He cursed seeing Annalise walking along the toolbar. “Ann!”

“Annalise!” Dark had returned and saw Annalise jump into the Chrome icon. “Anti!”

“I’m going!” Anti leaped out of the pain window and dove after his daughter. Anti went as he could through the internet’s current following the orange pixels that were coming off of Annalise as she flew down. 

“Ann!” Anti felt himself passing through multiple computer connectors, images and phrases went past him in a flash. “Ann! Stop!” Annalise was giggling as if she couldn’t hear him. “Stop damn it!” Annalise made a sudden turn into the screen of someone’s computer. Anti had to catch himself on an email, knowing that whoever got it when he let go was going to be greeted by nothing but deformed letters. Anti used the email to launch himself into the screen he saw Annalise go into. 

“It’s you!” Anti heard a very familiar voice shout when he fell out of Chrome. 

“Ann! Ann!” Anti turned and groaned when he saw the background image, he knew who this computer belonged to. “Hey, Jack-the fuck man!?” Anti snapped after having to duck, the cursor almost hitting him. 

“What are you doing here!?” Jack demanded, trying to click on Anti. 

“Stop that!” Anti caught the cursor and shoved it into his mouth, chewing on it and swallowing. 

“You ate my cursor!” 

“What the fuck were you doing? Did you just finish watching porn or something?” Anti ran his tongue along his arm. 

“Get out of my computer!” Jack huffed.

“Have you seen a little girl? She’s three, brown hair, dark blue eyes, wearing a pink tutu?” Anti asked. 

“Why are you looking for a little girl?” Jack had a face of concern. 

“She needed to charge, so I took her into the computer and she decided to go exploring and now Dark’s going to fucking kill me because our daughter is currently going through the internet!”

“Wait, wait!? Your daughter!?” 

“Yes, yes. Dark and I adopted a kid and got married and sorry for not inviting you to the wedding but I’ve slit your throat and Dark wants fucking nothing to do with Mark ‘cause blah blah blah, you saw the videos and I just want my little girl!” Anti spoke very quickly. 

“Um...congrats?” Jack had no idea what to say. 

“I just gotta say if Mark and Dark share anything in common when it comes to the bedroom, Amy is one lucky lady.” Anti winked. 

“Daddy!” Annalise popped out of one of Jack’s word documents and fell down into Anti’s arms. 

“Oh, thank the lord!” Anti hugged Annalise tightly. “Don’t ever do that to me again!” 

“Aw, that’s adorable.” Jack chuckled. 

“Next video!” Annalise threw her arms up in the air as she yelled. Anti’s jaw dropped while Jack started laughing. 

“You’ve corrupted my child.” Anti groaned. 

“Good, maybe she won’t end up like you.” Jack chuckled.

“That’s probably the kindest thing you have ever said to me.” Anti said, brushing a stray hair out of Annalise’s face. 

“Dude…” Jack was definitely not expecting that from Anti. 

“Could you open your Skype for me? I’m not in the mood to travel all the way back to my home computer on my own.” Anti said, his mood quickly shifting back. “Unless you want me to tell you all about mine and Dark’s relationship in super vivid detail.” Anti shimmied a little. 

“He look like you.” Annalise said, pointing at Jack. 

“I’ll explain that when you’re older.” Anti said while Jack clicked open his Skype. “And if you’re dying to know more. Just ask.” He added to Jack as he hopped into the app. “Type in ‘Glitchers’ into the search bar.” Anti said, waiting for Jack to do so. Anti pointed at the one that was his and he jumped into the little bar that was used to type out a message. “And send.” Anti chuckled before Jack clicked the button, the message showing only an empty space to Jack. Anti held on to Annalise as they traveled through Skype’s messaging system.

“I told you that it was a bad idea!” Dark scolded the moment Annalise and Anti materialized back into the office. 

“Everything’s fine.” Anti sighed, setting Annalise on the ground. “Go play in your room.” 

“Okay, daddy!” Annalise said and took off. 

“I knew it! I knew that it was dangerous to let her go in there!” Dark shouted as soon as the door was shut. 

“I know.” 

“Don’t-” Dark stopped when he realized that Anti wasn’t arguing. “What?” 

“I dozed off. I didn’t realize that I needed a charge that badly until it was too late. It’s my fault she got away like that.” Anti hugged himself. “It would have been my fault if Annalise was lost. I can’t handle the thought of losing her again. She was only gone for a week and it killed me.” 

“Anti.” Dark went over to his husband and hugged him. 

“She still needs to charge. She’ll get really sick if she doesn’t.” Anti said.

“Then we’ll be smarter next time. We’ll disconnect the internet. We’ll hide the folders and apps. It’ll be okay.” 

“My chest hurts.” Anti mumbled. 

“That’s called being responsible.” Dark chuckled.

“I hate it.” 

“I know.” 

“I Markiplier!” Annalise yelled from her room. 

“She’s what?” Anti squeaked when Dark’s hug got tighter. 

“We might have ended up in Jack’s computer.” Anti nervously laughed. 

“Out of all of those people to watch, she had to see him!?” Dark released Anti and went to the door. “Why couldn’t it have been that cranky one!?” He threw open the door and walked out. 

“She can become part of his cranky crew.” Anti properly laughed as he went after Dark. 

“What does that even mean!?” Dark huffed. 

“You have to watch it to understand.” Anti said, their voices getting softer as they walked away. 

“ _ Mission failed. _ ” A voice said from the laptop, the blue ladybug reappearing on the screen. “ _ Time to initiate the last resort. _ ” 


	13. Bye-Sexual

“You just know everything, don’t you!?” Chase yelled into his phone, angrily pacing the Septiceye living room. Anti and Dark were visiting while Annalise was in school and Stacey had called Chase, her voice muffled through the speaker, but everyone could tell that she was yelling as well. Everyone was uncomfortable, Chase did not get angry. He wasn’t an angry guy, but the rage in his voice forced everyone silent. “Yes! I danced with Marvin at the wedding more than I danced with you! You didn’t want to get up! You kept complaining and nagging about everything!” Chase let out a loud groan. “Fine! I’ll fuck Marvin! At least he wouldn’t just lay there and do nothing!”

“I…” Marvin curled up a little, hiding his masked face in his arms but everyone knowing that he was blushing. 

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay!” Anti and Dark both perked up at that comment. What was Stacey saying? “There’s nothing wrong with being gay or straight or ace or pan or bi! There’s nothing wrong with being bisexual! Anti’s bi! Dark’s bi! Marvin’s bi! I’m bi! I…” Chase’s entire body slumped when he realized what he just said. “Stacey, wait! I…” 

“Oh shit.” Anti was the only one that wasn’t shocked by Chase’s confession.  

“Wait…” Chase suddenly tensed up before throwing his phone across the room, Dr. Schneepelstein had to duck to prevent himself from getting hit. “Fuck!” Chase screamed before collapsing to the floor, sitting on his rear and sobbing. 

“Chase.” Anti got up and went over to Chase. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Chase sniffed and smiled at Anti, but the look on Anti’s face made him break again. 

“Come here,” Anti said softly and gave Chase a hugged, squeaking a little when Chase wrapped his arms around him and cried into his chest. “Um...there, there.” Anti weakly chuckled and patted Chase’s back. “No,” Anti said to Dark who he knew that his overprotective husband had a certain look on his face. 

“I fucked up! I fucked up, man!” Chase sobbed. 

“Everything’s gonna be fine.” Anti was thanking Annalise for his ability to actually soothe someone. A few months ago and he would just be throwing chocolate at the other man and running away. 

“Um...Chase?” Marvin was now kneeling in front of Chase. “Kazam.” Marvin clapped his hands and a small bouquet of flower appeared. “Tada?” Chase had a small smile and he chuckled lightly. Marvin handed Chase the flowers and he reached into the center of them, a cloth was pulled out and it was tied to another cloth and Marvin kept pulling and more cloths came out. 

“Thanks, man.” Chase sighed, lowering the flowers when Marvin was done with his trick. “Uh, sorry about my comment…” Chase sat himself up. “I was just...sorry.” 

“It’s fine, you were having an argument. Things are said that aren’t really meant during those.” Marvin said with a smile, glad to see that his friend was okay. 

“It’s just...I’m probably never gonna see my kids again.” Tears were rolling down Chase’s face again. 

“Stacey wouldn’t-”

“Yes, she would.” Chase cut Anti off. “There’s a reason why she didn’t want to go to the wedding, why my kids haven’t been over for a playdate with Annalise, why I’m terrified about the fact that she now knows that I’m bi. She doesn’t hate them...us, it’s just that she doesn’t understand and doesn’t want the kids to get ‘confused’.”  

“Give me the word and I’ll make her disappear.” Anti offered in a whisper. 

“Please don’t.” Chase patted Anti’s shoulder. “But thanks for the offer.” 

“If Anti won’t, I will.” Marvin stated. “Stacey shouldn’t be treating you like this. You’re smart and kind and a great father and a great friend and…” Marvin’s voice slowly trailed off when he realized that he was rambling.

“You must be very red in the face under that mask.” Dr. Schneeplestein teased. 

“No, I’m not!” Marvin protested. 

“Then shall I take a look?” 

“No!” 

“Jackie, would you do me a favor?” 

“No!” Marvin started scrambling to his feet while Jackieboy cheered and leaped off of the couch. “Stay away from me!” Marvin yelled as he ran away from the superhero. Chase and Anti got up and were trying to dodge the two. 

“I’m here for ya, Marv!” Chase laughed, joining in the fun. 

“I’m on team Jackie!” Anti started running as well. 

“Someone’s gonna trip.” Dark casually said, taking a sip from his cup. 

“Jackieboy never-” Jackieboy’s statement was proven wrong before he could even finish it, not seeing that the flowers were still on the ground. He fell over, causing Anti to trip over him, knocking into Marvin and making him fall as well, the magician tried to catch himself on Chase, but sent both of them tumbling. 

“Ah…” Marvin’s hands were up and he held the word out when he landed on his back and Chase was on top of him, his hair brushing against his neck. Chase groaned as he pushed himself up, seeing that he was face-to-face with Marvin. Chase’s eyes went wide and Marvin’s breathing deepened. 

“Aren’t you two adorable?” Dark teased, snapping both men back into reality. Chase yelped as he was pushed away and Marvin rolled away before running out of the room. 

“I...I need to use the restroom.” Chase said and ran off as well. 

“While I would love to stay and harass the two, Annalise will be getting home soon.” Dark said as he stood up. 

“You should bring her over.” Jackieboy said as a question. 

“We’ll see how she’s feeling.” Dark helped Anti to his feet. 

“We’ll bring her over.” Anti chuckled. 

“Maybe.” Dark quickly added before they disappeared into a cloud of pixels. 

_ x~x~x _

Annalise hummed to herself while she colored, drawing the blue ladybug she had seen a few days ago. Something about it reminded her of her daddy. She couldn’t place it, but it has a similar feeling to when Anti would make his little holograms. 

“Annalise, your father’s here.” Annalise’s teacher, Mr. Kaiser said. Annalise perked up. Her dad wasn’t supposed to get her today, she was told to ride the bus like usual. She looked over at the door and saw her papa waiting. He flashed her a smile and Annalise put her drawing in her backpack. 

“Hi, papa!” Annalise greeted, skipping over to the man. 

“How’s my princess?” Her papa asked. Annalise froze. Something was wrong. Why did her papa’s voice sound funny? It was off. It was like he was forcing his pitch. 

“Papa? Where daddy?” Annalise asked. She had learned that if one of her dads were here, the other one would be close by. 

“He stayed at home, now let’s get going.” The man held a hand out towards Annalise and the little girl took a step away. 

“Annalise, what’s wrong?” Mr. Kaiser asked. 

“Come on, Annie, dear, let’s get going.” 

“Annie?” Annalise got a strange feeling in her chest and her lip quivered. Papa never called her that. Papa called her Annalise. Daddy called her Ann. Stache called her Annie, but this wasn’t Stache. 

“Yes, you, you silly girl.” Her papa kept using words that he didn’t. Was papa sick? 

“Papa sick?” Annalise took her papa’s hand and quickly yanked it back. What was wrong with papa’s hand? Why did it have the sparky feeling her daddy’s had? Papa wasn’t sparky. 

“Annalise, what are you doing?” Mr. Kaiser crouch down. Annalise’s eyes were wide, she was scared, she was confused. What was wrong with papa?

“Annie, we need to leave.” Her papa said. 

“No.” Annalise stated. 

“Annie. Now.” The man ordered. 

“No!” Annalise screamed, running back to her desk and going under it. 

“Annalise!” Mr. Kaiser scolded. “You get out from under there, right now.” Annalise didn’t want to get out, she wanted to stay there, she felt safer there. But Mr. Kaiser looked angry, she didn’t want him to be angry so she crawled her way back out. 

“Someone’s getting a time-out when we get home.” Papa with sparky hands said and picked Annalise up, the sparky feeling being stronger.  

“No! No touch! No touch!” Annalise cried, pounding her fists on the man’s shoulders. 

“Annalise! Stop that.” The man caught Annalise’s hands and that was when she got a good look at his eyes. 

“No! No!” Annalise screamed and continued struggling as she was carried away. “Closet man! Closet man! Daddy! Papa!” 


	14. Host Knows

“I bet you twenty dollars they at least hook up.” Anti said while he and Dark stood outside of their house, waiting for the school bus. 

“You do realize that one of them is married, right?” Dark asked, looking down the street. The bus was late.

“Their marriage is more paperwork than love.” Anti stated. 

“Doesn’t Chase still love her?”

“He loves the mother of his children, if she didn’t have that, he would have left a long time ago.” Anti dug the tip of his foot into the ground.

“How do you know?” Dark started to tap his own foot. They usually called if they were going to be more than a few minutes late. 

“He’s told me multiple times when he’s been drunk. He’ll deny it sober, but get a few shots in him and he’ll spill his guts out.” Anti answered. “Where the fuck is the bus?” 

“That’s what I was wondering.” Dark said. 

“I’m calling the school.” Anti took out his phone as he spoke. “They better have a good reason or someone’s getting fired.” He huffed.

“They’ll get more than fired.” Dark said harshly. 

“Hello, yes, this is Mr. Powell, Annalise Powell’s father and I was wondering why the bus was running late.” Anti said into the phone, his tone making it clear that he wasn’t happy. “One moment.” Anti turned the phone on speaker. “Could you repeat that?” 

“The bus won’t be coming to your home today since Isaac Powell picked Annalise up from preschool when the day was over.” The man on the phone stated. 

“I didn’t pick her up.” Dark protested. 

“I’m sorry, sir. But it was. I-”

“Describe me. Describe what I looked like.” Dark interrupted the man. 

“I...uh...built, average height, dark skin, blue eyes, brown-” 

“What color eyes?” Anti’s hand began to shake. 

“Blue...like...bright blue. I didn’t know you have blue eyes.” 

“My eyes are dark brown.” Dark stated, struggling to keep his composure. 

“You gave our daughter to a stranger!?” Anti screamed, not even trying to hold back. 

“It looked exactly like Isaac! The voice was even the same!” 

“What was Annalise saying as she left?” Dark asked. 

“She was upset. She was screaming something about a ‘closet man’ or something. I just thought she was throwing a tantrum.” 

“Are you a fucking idiot! How could you-”

“Anti. Hang up.” Dark said through gritted teeth. 

“But.”

“Now.” Anti clenched his own teeth before doing so. “Let’s get to work.” Dark took Anti’s hand and the two disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

“Well, hello there. I wasn’t-”

“Watch him. I’ll be right back.” Dark said to Wilford before vanishing. 

“What?”

“Someone kidnaped Ann!” Anti suddenly scream, catching the attention of all of the Ipliers. 

“What!?” Wilford took Anti by the shoulders. “What do you mean someone kidnapped her!?”

“Someone impersonated Dark and picked her up from preschool.” Anti explained. “They just took her!” 

“Let’s find him and give him what for!” Wilford removed his hands and pulled out a gun. 

“We don’t know who, what or where they went.” Anti said. 

“She’s a virus like you, right? Can’t you just track her down?” Bim asked. 

“Like a GPS or something?” Bing suggested. 

“I don’t know how to do that.” 

“Wait here.” Dark stated as he dropped off the Septiceyes and went away again. 

“What’s happening?” Dr. Schneeplestein asked. 

“That felt weird as fuck.” Chase groaned, holding his stomach. 

“Teleporting takes some time to get used to.” Marvin said, giving Chase a light pat on his back. 

“Annie’s been glitch-napped!” Wilford announced. 

“Don’t refer to my daughter as-”

“What do we do?” Chase asked.

“We work.” Dark stated after coming back again, holding his laptop. “Half of us is going to the school and scanning the surrounding area. The other half will-” Dark stopped when Bing started to cough. 

“Bing, now is not the time to be acting up.” Google said harshly. 

“S-Sorry, I...I…” Bing bent over as he coughed harder, entire body convulsing. 

“Bing…” 

“It’s-” Bing started to wheeze between coughs. Google’s eyes went wide when a drop of black liquid came out of Bing’s mouth. Google quickly grabbed Bing and carried the other search engine to the couch. Google gripped the top of Bing’s shirt and ripped it open. Everyone watched in stunned silence as Google pressed his thumbs against Bing’s bare collar bones. There was a soft beep before a square chunk of flesh lowered like a panel, exposing Bing’s insides. 

“What’s going on?” Dark asked. 

“Someone’s trying to hack into Bing’s core.” Google answered, reaching into Bing’s chest and pulling his hand out, a small, holographic screen popped up. 

“How do you hack a search engine?” Wilford asked. “How do you hack a living thing?” 

“I don’t know!” Google snapped, pulling out more screens. Bing was shaking now, tears flowing down his face and black oozing out of his mouth. “He’s trying to fight it and his body is unable to handle it!” No one thought they would ever see fear in Google’s eyes, let alone it being for the sake of someone else, especially for someone like Bing. “Found it!” Google took something out of one of the screens. Bing stopped shaking and leaned forward as he coughed a few more times to clear his throat. The screens folded and went back into the open panel. Bing gasped for air a few times before leaning back against the couch.

“Does this look familiar to you?” Google opened his hand and a pixelated insect flew out and floated in front of Anti. 

“Blue ladybug.” Dark said.

“The same one Ann’s been drawing.” Anti added before grabbed the bug, feeling it shatter in his palm. 

“and I will go to the preschool and start searching.” Dark ordered as he handed Anti the laptop. “Do your thing. Call if anything comes up. Send Google when he’s done making sure Bing is okay.” 

“But Dark-” Anti stopped when Dark held his face with both hands. 

“I love you and I love our daughter and I will stop at nothing to kill the man who kidnapped her.” Dark gave Anti a kiss before going over to the group of egos he had listed. 

“I’m coming with.” Chase stated, joining the group.

“You need to stay here with Anti.” Dark stated.

“I can help!” 

“You can help by staying here!” 

“Chase, we’ll be fine.” Marvin said, making Chase slump his shoulders. 

“He won’t get hurt.” Dark spoke in a softer tone, recognizing the look on Chase’s face. “I promise.” He added before going away in a cloud of black smoke. 

“Let’s get working.” Anti said, holding up a blue pixel. 

“I don’t like being hacked.” Bing groaned. 

“Perhaps if you had taken my advice and installed firewalls, you would not have been in this mess.” Google huffed as he examined the inside of Bing, making sure nothing was left behind. 

“You care for me.” Bing chuckled. 

“I do not.” Google stated. 

“You love me.” Bing sang. 

“I could easily reach inside of you and pull out your heart-drive, do not tempt me.” Google threatened. 

“Love you too, bro.” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“Does getting hacked always hurt that much?” Bing asked.

“I’ll make sure that it will never happen again.” Google said. Bing said nothing but had a big smirk on his face. Google simply covered Bing’s face with his hand and went back to his inspection. 

“What are you doing with that...thing?” Chase asked as Anti sat on the couch and opened the laptop. 

“It’s a pixel, whoever tried to hack Bing left a part of themselves behind.” Anti answered.

“Don’t you do that when you glitch?” 

“I do.” 

“Does that mean…” Chase left the question hang in the air. 

“I told you I’m not the only one. Annalise is evidence of that.” Anti logged on and stiffened when the blue pixel flew into his laptop. Skype opened up on its own and a black screen showed up, saying that the caller was ‘V.Rus’.

“H-Hello, Anti.” A voice said, the sound clipping a little at first. “I’m sure you’re wondering where Annalise is and all I have to tell you is to forget about her. Adopt a different child. Move on.” 

“Who the fuck are you!?” Anti snapped. 

“You can just call me ‘closet man’, that’s what Annalise has been screaming at least.” The voice chuckled. 

“If you hurt one hair on her head, I swear to God I will use your entrails as decorations!” Anti gripped the screen as he screamed. 

“She won’t feel pain.” The voice laughed again. “I’ll give you one more warning. Stop. You really shouldn’t have let your husband and friends go out like that. If they find us, we have no control what will happen to them.” 

“We’re not the kind of people to threaten.” Anti growled.

“We know what you did to Jolene. That’s was cute. Crawling out the t.v. was a great show.” There was a clapping sound. “But as soon as we get what we want. You’d be nothing more than a pesky little pixel compared to us. Trust me when I say this. You don’t want to mess with us.” 

“The same could be said to you.” Anti said as Chase leaned against him. 

“I wonder how Bim would handle hosting a show of his own end?  Or how Jackieboy would like to be a superhero who can’t save himself? Or how Wilford would snap after learning who his best friend actually is and who he was? Or how Marvin would feel being in a disappearing act he has  no control over?” Anti felt Chase’s grip on his shoulder tighten. “Or how Dark, your dear little Darky, would collapse into nothing when he learns that he will never see you again?” 

“Touch them and you’ll fucking die.” Anti said through gritted teeth. 

“Leave us alone and they’ll be fine.” The voice stated before shutting Skype down. 

“An offspring will cause pain to us all.” Host finally spoke as he stood. “An offspring will come into our lives. An offspring will have us all care for them. An offspring will be more powerful than the world can handle. An offspring from a demon and a virus that paired in a most unexpecting way.” Host trembled as he spoke. 

“Host…” 

“Host apologizes to everyone in the room. Host admits to hiding the rest of the prediction from them. Host says that he didn’t want to believe that it was true. That it was mistaken. That it was just a mix-up. Host falls to his knees in despair.” Host did what he narrated. “Host was getting to caught up in the joy. Host was enjoying the happiness that Annalise brought to everyone. Host was enjoying knowing that everyone he has grown attached to was growing closer because of Annalise. Because of the offspring that he knew would cause pain to us all. Host...Host sobs as begs for forgiveness. Host isn’t sure wh-whether he could actually cr-cry due to the lack of eyes, b-but can feel the cries ripping through his throat. Host is sorry. Host is so so sorry.” 

“Holy fuck, Host has emotions.” Chase said without thinking. 

“Host pleads with Anti to get the others back to the house and do what the voice said. That it would be the best for Anti to stay here with everyone and just let Annalise go. Annalise will not feel pain.” Host tilted his head up to face Anti. “Host says please.” 

“I can’t leave my little girl.” Anti stated.  

“Host feared that would be Anti’s response and slowly rises to his feet.” Host grunted a little as he did so. “Host knows where Annalise and the others are.” 


	15. ViRus

“Dark! Dark!” Anti called out as he and the other egos ran into an empty factory building. Anti knew that this place had just shut down and was relocating, he never thought that he would end up inside of this building unless he was doing something silly with Dark.”Dark!”  

“Anti?” 

“Dark!” Anti leaped and gave Dark a hug. 

“Did I miss something?” Wilford asked the others. 

“The fucker is threatening us.” Anti stated, still holding Dark. “The one who took Ann.” He added for clarification. 

“I’m so scared.” Wilford said with a laugh. 

“You should be.” Everyone turned towards the voice, seeing that a man had appeared next to them, blue pixels falling around him. “Now, don’t get too crazy.” The man said when he saw everyone tense up. Wilford aimed his gun at him, Anti summoned a knife and Dark’s aura was growing. The man held up his hand and showed that there was a small flashing blue light on his wrist. “My pulse stops and they kill Annalise. Lower your weapons.” 

“You’re playing a very dangerous game.” Dark growled, putting his hands on Anti’s and Wilford’s wrists, making them lower their arms. 

“I’ve been playing for a long time, Dark.” The man chuckled. “Allow me to properly introduce myself. Annalise calls me ‘closet man’, Jolene knew me as Alexander.” The man smiled as the group stiffened. “I’m not Annalise’s father, Jolene wasn’t the most faithful partner I have chosen over the years. She was a lot less terrible in her youth, but I’ve been with worse. I would also like to thank you for getting rid of her, she was beginning to cross lines that she knew she should not have. She knew that all she had to do was keep the child until she was of age, but no, she left her at your home because it got ‘too hard’. She had all the money she could dream off, she could have gotten anything that she wanted, but no. Motherhood was too much.” The man shrugged. “But, I’m getting ahead of myself. My real name is Rus. Like, vi-rus." Rus laughed at his own joke a little before bluntly stating; "I’m also the first virus.” 

“The first…” Anti’s body slumped a little. 

“There’s about fifty of us in total, Anti. You’re not alone. That’s why you got so attached to Annalise so quickly. You never admitted it, but it was awful lonesome to be the only of your kind. To not have anyone who shared your troubles or understood your needs and there came along Annalise. You didn’t know, but something inside of you did.” Rus held his hands together. “You felt yourself drifting from your boyfriend, you felt like nothing could keep you two together since he worked too much. It didn’t take long to realize that Annalise was making you and Dark become closer. Your relationship blossomed because of the child. A child who someone knew would doom them to pain.” Rus gave Host a look. Dark stepped in front of the blind ego and shot Rus a glare. “She is the first of our kind to be born.” Rus turned his attention back to Anti. “She was an actual fetus. The amount of power she possesses is limitless as soon as she reaches a mature enough age to take proper orders. Orders that you can give at an even younger age now” Rus smirked at the thought “I’ll be nice and give you this choice. Join us, Anti. Come be with your people. Be with your fellow virus. Live your life to its fullest. I know that you’re powerful and it could benefit the virus community. You’ll be with your little girl.  “ Everyone turned to stare at Anti. “Don’t you want to belong? To have a family?” There was a long, tense, silence before Anti started to laugh.

“You must be fucking stupid.” Anti chuckled. “I already have a family.” He took a step forward and raised his knife back up. “And you have my daughter.” 

“I was hoping to take the easy route.” Rus shrugged. “And I know Host wanted that too.” 

“Stop talking about him.” Anti warned. 

“You should read his journal, there’s a lot of interesting things in there. Like how he knew that Anti would break free. That sending Dark to the Septiceye house that night would lead to that...event.” Rus winked. “He knew Annalise would come into your lives. He knew she was the offspring since the moment she came into the meeting room. He knows a lot more than he’s able or willing to tell.” Rus snapped his fingers with both hands, a cloud of blue pixels began building at his feet. “He knows how this will end if you come after me. Listen to your friend.” 

“Fuck you!” Anti took off, green pixels began to form around him as well. Anti was still yelling as he tackled Rus, their pixels colliding and causing them to explode.

There was a bright, white light and everyone felt their bodies pull apart. There was no pain. There was nothing. 

Anti was the first to land, falling out of the computer screen. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and heard as the others came out behind him. 

“I never want to be pixelated again.” Dark groaned, getting up as well. “Where are we?” 

“I don’t-”

“What in the actual fuck!?” 

“Mark’s house.” Anti sighed.

“Oh no! Not you! Get the fuck out of my house!” Mark threw the glass cup he hand in his hand towards Dark. Dark easily caught it and shattered. 

“While I would love to have a ‘chat’ with you. We’re doing something of much higher importance.” Dark growled. 

“Have you seen a fucker come through here or a little girl?” Anti asked. 

“A fucker and a little girl? What?” Mark asked. Dark stepped forward and grabbed Mark by the front of his shirt.

“Listen. We need to know if a man about our height and size with blonde hair, wearing a blue shirt and jeans has come through here because he is currently in possession of someone that Anti and I care for very deeply.” Dark’s entire body was stiff as he spoke. 

“The little girl?” Mark noticed that there was a ring on Dark’s finger, he glanced over at Anti and saw that there was a matching one. “Holy fuck...holy fuck! You are married!? I thought Jack was fucking with me!” Mark fumbled a little when Dark released him. “You have a daughter!? Holy fuck!” 

“Focus!” Anti snapped. “Have you seen anything blue? Blue little cubes or anything!?” 

“Like that?” Mark pointed and everyone turned around. Several blue pixels were clinging to the wall. 

“He must have jumped through here.” Anti went over to the wall and started to collect the pixels.

“He knows that Dark and Mark are not the...best of friends.” Wilford chuckled. “He probably thought he could distract us by bringing us here. 

“You don’t fuck with supernatural dads.” Bim said with a laugh. 

“Do I get filled in? Or are we just gonna leave me hanging?” Mark asked. 

“We’ll have a fun little gathering and gossip over tea and biscuits.” Dark said in a mocking tone. 

“I wouldn’t mind that.” Wilford said. 

“Sounds fun.” Bing added. 

“Got it!” Anti shouted before Dark could snap at the other egos. The blue pixels expanded, absorbing some green ones that came out of Anti’s hands. “We should be able to jump through and follow Rus.” 

“Host would like to try one more time to convince Anti and the others to stay behind. Host tries his best to warn them of the dangers to come if they go through those pixels.” Host said. 

“I’m getting Annalise back.” Dark stated. 

“We’ve done it once already.” Anti shrugged.

“Host would like to point out that they are not going against a human with no knowledge.” Host put his hand on Anti’s arm. “Host knows what is coming and Host wants to do everything that he can to prevent it.” 

“I’m sorry, buddy. But I’m going.” Anti looped his other arm through Dark’s. “Everyone hold each other. I’ll take us through and it should suck less.” Host went silent as everyone crowded together.

“We’ll come back with Annalise and have that tea party.” Anti said to Mark with a smirk before facing the pixel wall. “Time for an ass-kicking.” Anti took the first step into the pixels. The step that Host knew would lead to something none of them were ready for.  


	16. Gone

“A bitch is gonna die tonight!” Anti yelled after forming and seeing that he was inside of a large room. The other egos were right behind him and Dark stepped up to stand next to his husband. 

“Daddy!” 

“Ann!” Anti saw that Annalise was sitting on the ground, hands tied behind her back and face puffy from crying. Dark and Anti started running but stopped when they were cut off by a large group of people. 

“How did I know that you would follow me? How did I know that you would be stupid enough to endanger yourself and your so-called ‘family’ and come after me?” Rus said, body hidden but voice heard. 

“Come out here and fight like a real virus!” Anti shouted. 

“I’m like your husband, I don’t like to get my hands dirty but my family on the other hand.” The room lit up with multiple different colored pixels. “Love to.” 

“Time to tussle!” Wilford cheered and was the first one to start running. 

“Bring it, mother fuckers!” Anti cheered as well, joining in the fight. 

“I’m a doctor, not a fighter, damn it!” Dr. Scheepelstein shouted as he and Dr. Iplier moved back and away from the crowd, knowing they be most helpful out of the way. 

Chase ducked as one of the virus' took a swing at him. He lost his balance and started to crawl away. Chase yelped when the man grabbed his foot and started dragging him across the ground. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Chase cursed, he used his other foot to kick the virus’ knee, yelling with joy when he was released. “Fuck you!” Chase flipped off the virus and quickly took off when the man started to get back up. A squeal of fear came out of him when he saw two more virus' in front of him, waiting to catch him. Chase tensed up and started running faster before making himself fall and he slid between the two, thanking baseball as he kept running. 

“Cheat!” Chase stopped and saw that Marvin was fighting off two virus’ on his own. 

“Balls!” Chase yelled to himself and went towards the group. He jumped on the back of one of the virus’ and started slamming his fists into their head. 

“Get off!” The virus caught Chase’s hands and threw him over their shoulders. The virus was going to stomp of Chase, but something shot out and hit them in their chest, sending them flying back. 

“Chase!” Marvin started going for the other man but stopped when a spark hit his arm, causing him to yell in pain. Chase saw that the other virus was charging up another one. Chase quickly scrambled to his feet and ran over to Marvin, hugging the magician and blocking him with his body as a large bolt of yellow pixels shot into his back. Chase convulsed and coughed blood onto Marvin’s chest. “Chase! Chase, are you okay!” 

“I taste...bacon.” Chase weakly chuckled before collapsing.

“Dr. Schneepelstein! Dr. Iplier! Help!” Marvin screamed as he struggled to hold Chase up, his own body in pain. 

“Jackieboy-Man’s gonna make you pay!” Jackieboy shouted as he ran past Marvin and Chase while the doctors rushed over to them. “Be ready, villains!” Jackieboy took a big step and punched one of them in the jaw, sending them across the room. Jackieboy hopped around, slamming his fists into multiple virus’, blood pumping and heart racing. “I-” 

“Got too cocky.” A virus cut Jackieboy off by grabbing his throat. Jackieboy grinned and went to remove the virus’ hand, but a strong shock on his neck stopped him. Purple pixels leaked around the hands while Jackieboy started gagging. Jackieboy gasped for air when he as suddenly freed. He fell to his knees and held his throat. 

Bim had tackled the virus and was easily thrown off of them. The virus got up before Bim did and kicked him in the face. Bim held his now broken nose and screamed. The virus didn’t get to do anything else before Host ran in front of them. Host removed his bandage, exposing bright white lights and he yelled.

“The virus became blind to the three and wandered off. Leaving the building!” Host slipped the bandage back on before collapsing. 

“Host!” Bim turned Host over. 

“I narrate, not direct.” Host coughed. “But I’ll be fine.”

“I’m here, I’m here!” Dr. Iplier said as he slid next to Host. “Who needs what?”

“Check Jackieboy first. My nose can wait. ”Bim said.

“I’m just exhausted.” Host added. 

“I...I…” Jackieboy peeled his hands away from his throat, stomach turning at the sight of blood. 

“You’ll be fine. I promise.” Dr. Iplier started looking at the wound. 

“Fuck you and fuck you and fuck you.” Bing laughed as he rolled past the group on his Heelys, firing off his own sparks towards the virus’. Bing tried to do a spin, but tripped over his own feet and fell face-first to the ground. 

“You’re a defect.” Google sighed as he jumped in front of Bing to protect him from getting attacked. 

“But I’m your defect.” Bing chuckled. 

“Just get-” Google had turned away for only a moment, but that was long enough for a virus to grab his head and send a strong shock through his hardware. 

“Google!” Bing scrambled over to the older machine when he collapsed. “Google! Hey, Goog, buddy, get up.”  

“Aw, you’re friend’s all tuckered out.” The virus mocked. 

“I’ll show you tuckered,” Bing growled before leaping off of the ground. He tackled the virus to the ground and pressed both hands against their chest. Bing felt a surge of energy go through him and the next thing he knew he was flying and landing next to Google. He lifted his head and saw that the virus was not just a pile of black ash. “Fucking...sweet.” Bing groaned before his head flopped back.

“The search engines are down!” Wilford called, firing his gun towards another virus. He’s felt as if he’s shot hundreds of them, but they just keep coming. “Holograms!? That’s fucking cheating!” Wilford shouted when one of his bullets went straight through the virus. 

“Who said we were ever going to play fair?” Rus said from behind Wilford before clamping both hands on his head. 

“What are you doing!?” Wilford’s vision started to become blue. 

“Let go of him!” Dark grabbed Rus and threw him off of Wilford. 

“I gotcha Dark!” Wilford yelled and aimed his gun at Dark. 

“Have fun.” Rus chuckled before taking off. 

“Wil, it’s me!” Dark said before dodging a bullet. “Blink, damn it!” Dark lunged and grabbed Wilford’s hand. He pulled the trigger himself a few times to get the other virus’ away from them.

“You’re gonna pay, Rus!” Wilford shouted after Dark took the gun away from him. 

“I’m not Rus!”

“Bullshit!” Wilford threw a punch and Dark caught it, but couldn’t stop Wilford from kneeing him in the stomach. 

“Push him!” Dark heard Anti shout and he did so. Anti caught Wilford and threw him to the ground, sitting on the madman’s chest. Wilford didn’t stay down long and switched their position. Dark looped his arms through Wilford’s and fell back with him, laying on his back while latching onto Wilford. 

“His eyes!” Dark said as he struggled to keep Wilford still. 

“Got it!” Anti held his hands over Wilford’s face, gasping a little as blue pixels came out of Wilford’s eyes and into his palms. Anti clenched his hands and threw them aside, the pixels becoming solid and falling to the ground. Wilford had gone unconscious and Dark gently rolled him away. 

“Give in yet? Everyone’s out, but you two.” Rus called, the crowd of virus’ parting so they could see the man holding Annalise by the arm. 

“Let go!” Annalise cried.

“Shut it.” Rus yanked on Annalise’s arm. 

“Fuck off!” Anti and Dark were both going to teleport over there, but Annalise’s outburst stunned them a little. A cloud of orange pixels came out of Annalise’s back and attacked Rus’ face, forcing him to release her.

“Daddy! Papa!” Annalise started running for her dads. 

“Ann!” Anti glitched while Dark ran as well. “Ann!” Anti scooped Annalise up and spun around with her. 

“That brat!” Rus screamed when the pixels faded away. “You will learn to listen to orders!” 

“Eat my ass.” Annalise stuck her tongue out. 

“Yeah, Rus. Eat my ass.” Anti joined his daughter. 

“You wanted to fight like a real virus, then let’s fight!” Rus snapped his fingers and all of the other virus’ turned towards Dark. “Keep him busy.”

“Dark!” Anti yelled when the virus’ surrounded Dark. “Ann, go somewhere safe,” Anti said to Annalise after lowering her, seeing that Rus was walked towards him. 

“Let’s dance, fucker.” Anti summoned two knives. 

“Let’s.” Rus jumped first, going for a blow to the chest. Anti easily moved out of the way and slashed his knife down, realizing that Rus had glitched out of the way. 

“We’re playing that game, asshole!?” Anti shouted, finding Rus across the room. Anti glitched as well and landed next to Rus. He lunged forward with the knife, Rus quickly glitching again and going behind him, shoving him to the ground. Anti rolled over and kicked a leg out, hitting Rus in the jaw. “I’ve been killing for years!” Anti went to stab Rus’ foot, but Rus glitched himself a few inches away, making Anti stab the ground, the knife getting stuck. Anti swung up with his other hand and Rus caught it. Anti reached behind him and gripped the knife on the ground and yanked it out. He slashed out with it and found himself cutting the air again.

“I would love to know where your love of knives came from.” Rus stated.

“Quit running!” Anti snapped, glitching to Rus.

“I’m not running.” Rus said as he avoided Anti again. “I’m simply making use of my powers.” 

“Shut up!” 

“I bet you love the feeling of stabbing people. Why else would you do it for a living?” Rus started glitching around, not stopping for more than a second. 

“Fucking cut that out!” Anti began glitching as well. 

“Do you know what it feels like-” Anti went stiff. “To be stabbed?” Anti looked down and saw a blue dagger made of pixels coming through his chest. Rus yanked the blade out and watched Anti fall over. 

“Daddy!” Annalise cried and glitched over to Anti.

“Anti!” Dark shoved his way through the virus’ who stopped moving when Anti did. “No, no, no!” Dark fell to his knees and turned Anti over. “Anti! Anti!” 

“D...Dark…” Anti gasped out. 

“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay.” Dark pressed his hands against the wound, blood pouring out of it. 

“I…”

“Save your strength.”

“I love you.” Anti got out before he went limp, eyes staring at nothing. 

“Anti...Anti...please…” Dark didn’t feel a pulse under his hands. “No...no…” Dark started to shake as he moved his hands to hold Anti’s face. His bright green eyes were fading to white. “Please...please don’t go,” Dark begged, tears forming in his own eyes. “Don’t leave me, please. Anti...Anti, please! Please!” The tears flowed freely. “No! No! Not after everything we’ve been through together! Please! Please! Get up! Get up!” Dark hugged Anti’s body. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Dark’s aura grew as he pleaded. “You’re my everything. You’re what gets me out of bed in the morning. You’re what keeps me sane. You’re my life. You’re my joy. You’re my husband. My one and only. My soulmate. Please don’t leave me. Please. Please. Please.” Dark sobbed as he held Anti close, his aura shattered and fell to the ground in glass-like shards. 

Years of laughter, of joy. Days of traveling around the world. Days of doing nothing. Nights of laying together and watching a show. Nights of endless passion. All of it. Gone. 

He was gone.

Anti was gone.  


	17. Stain-Glass Wings

“Aw, isn’t that just a shame?” Rus said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. 

“Daddy....daddy wake up.” Annalise cried, holding Anti’s hand while Dark was still hugging him against his chest. “Papa crying. Please wake up.” She cried more when she didn’t feel the light spark she was used to when holding Anti’s hand. “Daddy...please...daddy.” 

“Get her. We have work to do.” Rus turned around to walk away but stopped when something bright flashed past him. He faced the direction it came from and saw that Marvin was pointing his wand towards him. The magician’s eyes were red and tears could be seen dripping off of his jaw. “Looks like the little kitten’s upset.” Rus chuckled. 

“Don’t. Call. Him. That.” Chase was slowly rising as he spoke, hand to his chest and crying himself. 

“Just take your corpse and leave. I don’t have time to deal with you.” 

“You fucked with the Septiceyes.” Dr. Schneepelstein pulled out several scalpels.

“You fucked with the Ipliers.” Dr. Iplier added, taking out his own scalpels. 

“You fucked up,” Bim said, voice a little stuffy.

“Get ready to fight.” Jackieboy’s voice was hoarse but strong. 

“End them.” Rus stated before the, now smaller in number, virus’ attacked. The standing egos all yelled as they began another round of fighting. 

“Hello.” Bing’s voice was robotic as his body rebooted. “Holy shit.” He sat up and shook his head. “Dark...oh no.” Bing put a hand over his mouth when he saw that Anti was being held and a large puddle of blood was beneath him. He turned his head and saw that the other egos were still fighting. “Goog. Goog, buddy get up.” Bing crawled over to Google and pressed an ear to his chest after rolling him over. “Alright. I got this. I can do this.” Bing slid up Google’s shirt before sitting on his lap. “It’s...here?” Bing pressed his fingers into the bottom of Google’s ribs and a moment later it beeped and a panel popped up. “Yes!” Bing pumped a fist before opening the panel all the way. “You just need a jumpstart.” Bing put his hands inside and resisted the urge to throw-up as he lightly gripped several wires. “One...two...three-” Bing sent an electric shock through his hands and he fell back. “Did it work?” Bing sat back up and looked in. “Come on, come on.” He closed the panel and squeezed his eyes shut. “Wait...um...okay, Google.” There was a loud chime and Google suddenly jerked upright, finding himself staring face-to-face with Bing sitting on him.

“What?” 

“Okay, good, you’re up! Bing scrambled to his feet. “We gotta help, Anti’s dead and-”

“Anti’s what!?” 

“We have to help the others!” Bing pointed and Google followed his finger. 

“There seems to be thirty of them left,” Google stated, eyes glowing as he thought. “Let’s go.” Google grabbed Bing’s hand and took off. Bing popped up on his Heelys and braced himself before he was thrown forward into a group of the virus’. 

“Strike!” Bing cheered when they all fell over. 

“I do have the best aim.” Google chuckled as he reached Bing and the two began knocking out the virus’ properly. 

“My...head…” Wilford groaned, rolling to his knees. “Where…” After several blinks, he remembered where he was. The virus number had shrunk and some of the egos had injuries, but that didn’t seem to be stopping them. “No…” Wilford saw Dark. “Shit.” Wilford ran over to the man and knelt with him. 

“Daddy won’t wake up,” Annalise said. 

“Dark...Dark, pal.” Wilford found pieces of what looked like red and blue glass around them. “Dark, I need you to snap out of it,” Dark said nothing and just continued to hold Anti. “The others need you. We can’t stop Rus without you. I didn’t see it, but I know that it’s his fault that Anti is gone. You are the only one that can avenge him. He will come back. They always come back but it takes time. I waited ten hours for you. I’m sure you can wait for Anti.” Wilford placed something on the ground before he stood back up. “You’re strong. Don’t let Rus win. You can do this.” Wilford tried one more time before taking off, knowing that the other egos needed him. 

Dark was frozen. He didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to breathe. He didn’t want this to be real. This had to be a sick joke. Some messed up nightmare to test his sanity. 

“Papa...papa...” Dark finally opened one of his eyes and saw that Annalise was looking at him, her face a bright red. “Help.” 

Annalise. Annalise was still here. His little girl. His little girl needed him. 

“If you can’t kill them, I’ll do it myself!” 

_ Rus _

Dark slowly lowered Anti’s body, blood soaking both of their bodies. He pressed a kiss against Anti’s lips, he waited for something, anything, but got nothing. 

“I love you,” Dark said, more tears forming in his eyes. “I will always love you. I-” Dark tensed up and started to shake, the tears freely falling and landing on Anti’s body. The shards of Dark’s aura started to slowly slide across the ground. They pooled at Dark’s feet as they became a liquid. The shards started to climb up Dark’s legs, growing the higher up they went. Eventually, they became two, shifting balls on his back. Dark kept his eyes on Anti as he rose to his feet. He clenched his hands while the balls started to shift even more as if something was inside and was trying to escape. With one sharp crack of his neck, the balls exploded. Dark’s red and blue aura returned as wings stretched out, free from their confinement. They looked to be made of a stain-glass window, red and blue swirling around each other in a beautiful pattern. 

“Get him, papa,” Annalise said, placing her hands on Anti’s chest, a soft orange hue beginning to glow out of her palms. 

Dark only smiled at his child before turning around, the smile quickly becoming a scowl when he saw Rus, who was fighting with Wilford. Dark let out a yell that caught everyone’s attention. 

“What the fuck!?” Rus shouted in shock. Dark started running and with one harsh flap of his wings, he was in the air and diving towards the virus. Rus didn’t have time to glitch before Dark caught him and lifted him into the air with him. Dark flipped himself and threw Rus to the ground, Rus ended up cracking the ground a little and the ground shattered when Dark landed on him, going for a punch and hitting the concrete instead of Rus’ face. 

“Get him! Get him!” Rus yelled. The remaining virus’ all began to pile on top of Dark. 

“Dark!” Wilford and the other egos were about to help get the virus’ off but stopped when the pile started to shake. The virus’ all screamed as a burst of energy sent them flying. Dark was now standing and yelling at the top of his lungs. “Go get him, Dark!” Wilford cheered.

“This is absurd!” Rus glitched away when Dark lunged for him. Dark crouched on the ground for only a brief moment before being able to launch himself and tackle Rus. 

“You killed him! You killed him!” Dark screamed, slamming Rus against the ground several times before he was gone again. 

“I thought you were the emotionless one! Get over it! You’ll find another! They always do!” Rus called from across the room. 

“There’s only one Anti!” Dark flapped his wings and was now floating in the air. 

“Look around you! There are more virus’! One of them can easily take over Anti’s place and you would never know the difference!” 

“You know nothing!” Dark swooped down and went towards Rus, easily dodging the blue spikes the virus threw at him. Rus waited until Dark grabbed him again before lashing out. He has spikes on his fingertips and he clawed them across Dark’s face. Dark released him and moved back, wiping the blood off of his face and out of his eye. 

“Anti was nothing more than a useless corruption! A mistake! He’s just a glitch!” Rus froze when something gun flew by his face after a gunshot made the room silent. 

“I’m not just a glitch.” A voice said. “I’m  _ the  _ glitch-bitch.”    


	18. Glitched Out

Anti had a large smirk on his face as he held Wilford’s gun out in front of him. Green pixels were twirling around the barrel, they were also wrapped around the rest of his body and small green butterfly wings were peeking out from behind him. 

“Anti!” All of the egos cried out. 

“Did you miss me?” Anti petted one of his wings. “I just needed a little upgrade.” He winked before throwing the gun into the air. Anti curled up a little, crossing his arms over his body before letting out a shout and throwing them back out. The pixels blew out into shards that struck several of the virus’ down and went through the egos as if they were nothing. Rus had to glitch multiple times to avoid getting hit. The wings changed their form and now looked like holographic bat wings. Anti caught the gun and aimed it back at Rus. “By the way, the only one that can call me a glitch, is me.” Anti fired off several rounds, sending out, not bullets, but compact pixels. Rus rolled his eyes before glitching away. 

“Did you really think firing at me would-” Rus stopped when he saw that the pixels have curved around and still heading towards him. The pixels hit him in both shoulders and the center of his chest, covering him in green spots. “What the hell!?” Rus shouted when he tried to glitch and couldn’t

“I’m sick of your glitching,” Anti stated before tossing the gun to Wilford, the green parts that had etched themselves into the barrel became pink. Wilford smirked at the other virus’ and started shooting at all of them, the remaining egos all cheered and went back to fighting. 

“You still can’t stop me.” Rus growled. 

“You fucked with dads. You never fuck with a dad.” Anti’s wings stretched out. “You also made my husband cry and that can’t go unpunished. Loving the wings, babe.” He added with a wink. 

“Same for you.” Dark grinned. 

“Fuck off!” Rus threw his hand across his body, sending blue shards flying towards Dark and Anti. Both of them flapped their wings and leaped up into the air. Anti flew towards Dark, letting him catch his arm and leg so he could be swung around and thrown towards Rus at a faster speed. Anti scooped Rus off of the ground and threw him towards Dark. Dark caught the man by his hair and threw him back to Anti. Anti swooped around Rus, grabbing his ankle and looping him in a circle before sending him to the ground. 

“That was fun!” Anti laughed, doing a flip in the air. “Let’s do it again!” Anti started to fly back down but had to roll over to prevent himself from getting hit by a blue shard. “Rude.” Dark avoided several shards as well before grabbing Rus’ shoulders, throwing him up. Rus turned himself around and threw out another shard. Dark hissed as it scratched his arm, tearing through the fabric of his shirt and blood seeping from the wound. Anti caught Rus and dove to the ground, slamming the older virus into it. “Do. Not. Hurt. Dark.” Anti growled, pinning Rus down by the neck. Rus put his hands on Anti’s chest and a blast sent Anti flying. 

“Anti!” Dark rushed over to Anti when he saw the virus coughing up blue pixels. 

“Get...him…” Anti croaked between coughs. 

“Rus!” Dark turned and launched himself towards Rus, moving to fast to prevent himself from getting hit with a cloud of blue pixels as well. “It tastes like shit,” Dark said as he forced the pixels out of his throat. Anti and Dark both slowly got up and went for Rus together, both of them getting sent back further by a burst of energy. 

“Daddy! Papa!” Annalise cried and ran over to her fallen dads.

“You can’t stop me! I am the oldest virus! I am the strongest and smartest there will ever be!” Rus shouted, walking over to the two. “I have spent centuries building gathering and training virus’! I have been working since before humanity knew what a pixel was! Before electricity was even a word! The world will belong to the virus’ and I will not have a malfunction and a deranged demon prevent me from getting what we deserve!” Anti’s and Dark’s wings were beginning to fade, their energy being absorbed by the pixels in their lungs. “You two are not fathers! You’re just creatures that should have never been formed!” Rus was blind to the orange pixels slowly building up behind him. “You two are going to die here! Your friends are going to die here. I will find your hosts and kill them! I’ll kill their friends and family! I’ll kill anyone that has ever associated with you! All of them are going to die because you couldn’t just let a little girl go! She’s not even yours! She has nothing to do with you! It was pure luck that she ended up at your door! You are nothing! You mean nothing! You-” Rus stopped when he saw the shadow of a large butterfly in front of him. He looked up and saw that Annalise was standing, her hands, soaked with Anti’s blood, were up in the air. A pair of holographic butterfly wings were on her back, fluttering with anger. “Don’t you dare-”

“ _Time-out_ ,” Annalise said before throwing her hands down, the butterfly collapsing on top of Rus. His scream rang out as the butterfly became a large wave of orange pixels. The leftover virus’ screamed as well as they and their fallen kin were absorbed as well. The pixels went through the egos as if it was just water. Anti and Dark were panting and patting their chests, the blue pixels gone. The pixels all turned back and went into Annalise. The little girl tensed up until all of the pixels were absorbed and her wings shattered. “Bad people get time-out,” Annalise said before falling over.

“Ann!” Anti scrambled on his hands and knees over to Annalise and scooped her up. 

“Sleepy,” Annalise said in a soft voice. 

“Same, princess, same.” Anti brushed away the stray hairs on Annalise’s face. “Oh, shit.” It hit Anti hard when he realized how exhausted he was himself. He lost a lot of blood, came back from the dead, had his energy sucked out of him, he needed a nap as well.

“Is everyone okay?” Dark called, standing up. 

“No one’s severely hurt, but we do need to get somewhere safe to patch up and rest.” Dr. Iplier called back. 

“I don’t think any of us have the energy to teleport,” Wilford said from his kneeling position. 

“Is that pixel portal thing still open?” Bim asked while Dr. Schneepelstein was looking at his nose. 

“I can’t do anything without bandages.” The doctor huffed. 

“If my pixels are still active, we should be able to go through it,” Anti said. “But I don’t think I can get up.” He added with a weak laugh. 

“I got you.” Dark scooped Anti up bridal style with Annalise laying on the virus’ chest. “I got you.” He repeated as he walked, his own legs screaming but he pushed it aside, he needed to get his family somewhere safe and soft to sleep. 

“Did we win?” Chase asked as he leaned against Marvin, who looked to be in pain as well. 

“We won.” Dark nodded and lead the group of limping egos. “Good.” Dark let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the portal was still open. He went in first and blinked against the change of light when he made it through. 

“I thought you guys just left that...holy shit.” Mark’s comment about the portal went away when he saw how all the egos looked. 

“Hey man, I just came back from the dead...can I crash on your couch?”  


	19. Settling In

“This itches,” Jackieboy whined as he messed with the bandage around his neck. 

“If you complain as much as Anti did, I’m putting you in a cone.” Dr. Schneepelstein threatened as he double taped the end of the bandage. 

“My nose isn’t going to look ugly, is it?” Bim asked as he poked his wrapped up nose. “Ow...Ow!” Bim said the second one after Dr. Iplier slapped his hand. 

“It will if you mess with it.” Dr. Iplier warned, earning a whimper from Bim and the show host sat on his hands. 

“I’m still really sorry for getting blood on ya,” Chase said for the tenth time in ten minutes as he blotted the blood stain on Marvin’s shirt with a wet rag. 

“I can get a new shirt, it’s fine.” Mavin took Chase by the wrists and lowered his arms. “You should rest.” 

“I’ve gotten shocked by alarm clocks, controllers, microwaves, this is nothing.” Chase chuckled. “Although I never imagined I would be tasty cooked up.” 

“Most humans taste like pork.” Bim stated, getting strange looks from everyone. “What?” 

“He is technically correct according to research.” Google said, the looks turning towards him.

“Canadolism aside, I think we should talk about how fucking dope all of that was!” Bing threw his hands into the air. “Fucking wings and shit!” 

“Anti also came back from the dead.” Wilford said as he stretched, his joints popping loudly. 

“Did you see that in your prediction, Host?” Chase asked.

“Host could only see harm for Anti, but was unable to see the specifics and could only say so much about it.” Host answered. 

“Your future seeing is kind of a dick.” 

“Host has holes for eyes because he attempted to look into his own personal future, he does not wish to tempt fate more.” Host’s mouth stretched out to a flat line. 

“He can prod at it thought.” Wilford chuckled. 

“What do you mean?” Marvin asked.

“Someone had a prediction about Anti and Dark, as we all know, but you guys don’t know is that Host knew that if Dark went to the Septiceye house that night, it would kick-start their relationship.” Wilford wagged a finger towards the Host. 

“Host will not dignify that with a response.” 

“I knew it.” Dark said as he entered the room. He patted a gentle hand on Host’s shoulder. “Thanks.” 

“How are Anti and Annalise?” Chase asked. 

“They’re both out.” Dark sighed. “I should inform Mark that all of his devices are currently dead and he’s going to need to reboot his computer.” Dark took out his phone. “I also need to ask where his chargers are.” 

“They got mine, too.” Wilford laughed a little after checking his phone. 

“I’m shocked Mark let them on his bed.” Bim said.

“I was not going to let my husband and daughter sleep on a couch after everything they have gone through. Has anyone been able to contact the Jims? The Iplier house is probably on fire right now.” 

“All of our phones are dead, how were we supposed to get a hold of them?” Jackieboy asked with a raised brow.

“Oh yeah, of course, I just…” Dark pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“There’s been a lot of trauma today, take it easy, Dark.” Dr. Iplier said. 

“Alright, I’m back.” Mark said as he came back into his house, grocery bags in his hands. “I got the pain meds, extra band-aids, and bandages. I bought a couple of pizzas I’ll toss in the oven and I even got a coloring book for Annalise. I got her one with princesses and one with cute animals, I’m not sure which one she’d like, but I’m sure she’d like something to do.”

“She likes butterflies.” All of the egos answered together. 

“Okay, don’t do that... _ ever  _ again.” Mark said as he unpacked the bags. Dark went over to Mark and helped him. There was a tense silence for a moment before Dark spoke up. 

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Dark said, taking out the coloring books. 

“You guys literally just saved the world. I can spare some money to help you recover and get out of my house in one piece.” Mark said as he stacked the pizza boxes. 

“Again, thank you. I’m sure Annalise will adore these.” Dark held up the coloring books before setting them aside. 

“There should be crayons in that bag as well.” Mark noticed that there was a strange look on Dark’s face. “Yes?”

“Are you sure you’re Mark?” Dark asked.

“What the hell does that mean?” 

“Never mind.” Mark made several sputtering sounds as Dark walked away, handing the medical supplies to the doctors. 

“Fine. Whatever…” Mark started to chew on his lip. “Why do I have a feeling that I forgot something?” 

“Dude! I thought you were gonna pick me...what the fuck?” Jack stood frozen at the front door, suitcase in hand and was greeted with a view of egos in the living room. 

“Oh, that’s what I forgot.” Mark said, going over to Jack. “Well, things got a little crazy here.” 

“I can see. What the hell happened?” Jack rolled his suitcase in with him. 

“Long story.” Mark sighed. 

“Did I just hear a loud Irishman?” Anti chuckled as he came into the room. 

“Anti!” The egos all cheered while Dark rushed to him and grabbed his face, pulling him in for a deep kiss. 

“Alright...”

“That’s a little weird.” Mark and Jack said. 

“Is it cause they have a resemblance to you?” Google asked. 

“We can make it worse.” Anti rubbed his hands as his body changed, slowly becoming an exact match to Jack’s. “This form’s really easy to do.” 

“As is this one.” Dark said, becoming a clone of Mark.

“And now to...” Anti grabbed Dark by his shirt and yanked him into a kiss. 

“Okay!” Both Jack and Mark yelled, covering their eyes. 

“My offer still stands on letting you know everything about Mark’s dick.” Anti said with a wink. 

“I’m going to go start cooking the pizzas!” Mark said loudly as he walked away while Jack just made sounds.

“You are not going to discuss my genitalia.” Dark said in a lower tone. 

“So, there’s this vein right at the-” Anti was cut off by Dark picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. 

“No fair!” Anti laughed. “Top of the mornin’ to ya ladies, my name is, put me the fuck down!” Anti kept laughing as he lightly hit Dark’s back. 

“Hello, everybody. My name’s Markiplier and today we’re not going to do that.” Dark chuckled and started walking around the living room. 

“Cranky crew!” Annalise cheered as he jumped into the room. 

“Ann!” Anti started slapping Dark harder and after getting put down, he and Dark both went over to Annalise, crouching down to hug her.

“Aw, she watches Ethan.” Jack chuckled. 

“We should give him a call and let him know that the child of a literal demon and a virus watches his videos.” Mark laughed from the kitchen. 

“Daddy look funny.” Annalise said. “And papa.” Anti and Dark both went back to their normal form in a blink. 

“How’s my princess?” Anti asked.

“Good nap.” Annalise said with a nod. 

“Do you know what happened today?” 

“Daddy got hurt. I help him.” Annalise puffed out her chest. “I use glowy.” She held out her hands and orange pixels started to dance on her palms. 

“Our daughter...brought you back from the dead.” Dark straightened up.

“Sweet.” Anti said as he did the same.

“How? Just...how? I don’t-” Dark stopped when Anti put a hand on his arm. 

“Virus’ are weird.” Anti turned his hand over and his own palm had pixels on it. “I can heal myself with my pixels, Annalise must have used hers to bring me back. My brain must not have fully died before she got to me.” 

“Okay…” Dark shook his head in disbelief. 

“What else happened today?” Anti asked. 

“Rus and others get time-out.” Annalise looked around before cupping her hands around her mouth. “Forever time-out like mommy.” 

“Do you want to color?” 

“Yes!” Annalise clapped her hands. 

“I am one step ahead.” Dr. Schneepelstein said, holding up the coloring books and crayons from the couch he was sitting on. 

“Sheep!” Annalise waited until Dark and Anti nodded their head before rushing over to the doctor.

“So, she’s kind of aware of what happened.” Anti said.

“Our child is going be in desperate need of therapy when she’s older.” Dark sighed. 

“Nah, she’ll be fine. She’s one of us, but I’m sure if worse comes to worse, we’ve got enough money to bribe someone to keep quiet and help her.” 

“Can we please talk about the wings?” Bing asked.

“Wings?” Jack and Mark both said as Mark left the kitchen and came back into the room, only hearing the last word. 

“Yeah! It was so cool!” Chase said. 

“Dark was like a stain-glass angel and Anti was a glitchy bat and Annalise was a butterfly!” Bing added.

“Extreme emotions cause extreme reactions.” Dark stated. 

“We could probably work on making them pop out whenever we want.” Ant said, joining Annalise on the floor. “Ann’s our little butterfly.” 

“The wings fun.” Annalise said. “But I no fly.” 

“Next time.” Anti chuckled. 

“So...Anti and Dark are married, they have a daughter and now they can grow fuckin wings?” Mark said. 

“Language.” Dark warned. 

“Eat my ass!” Annalise shouted, making Dark but his lower lip. 

“I bet I know where she got that from.” Jack chuckled. 

“If we get a call from the school saying the Annalise cursed, it’s your fault.” Dark said to Anti. 

“Eat my ass.” Anti stuck his tongue out. 

“I already do.” Dark said with a smirk, making everyone in the room but Annalise groan. 

“I did not need to hear that in my home.” Mark huffed. 

“I no get.” Annalise looked up at Anti. 

“Later.” Anti patted the top of Annalise’s head. 

“Or never.” Dark added, crossing his arms. 

“So, Dark’s the one with the shotgun when Annalise brings a boy home.” Jack said. 

“That’d probably be uncle Wilford.” Mark pointed at the man he spoke of. 

“Revolver, not a shotgun.” Wilford corrected. 

“Papa, lookie!” Annalise held up the coloring book. 

“That looks amazing.” Dark went over to Annalise and joined her and Anti on the ground. 

Dark listened while the others started talking, their voices being nothing but noise as he watched Annalise color and Anti giving her suggestions for which color to use. Anti looked up at Dark and gave him a smile when he saw that the demon was already doing so. 

This was it. They were finally happy. Dark and Anti were both filled with joy as their daughter had fun and the others were all safe and sound. They could finally move on with their lives. They could live in peace, or as much peace as a family of two virus’ and a demon could have. They were excited to continue a journey that they never expected to begin in the first place. 

Raising Annalise.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! This series is not over and more is to come. There may even be a sequel in the near future.


End file.
